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REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY ■ CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



REPRESENTATIVE 



COLLEGE ORATIONS 



EDITED BY 



Edwin Dubois shurter 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING IN THE 
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS 



3fofo fgotft 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1909 

All rights reserved 






Copyright, 1909, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 

Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1909. 



Norfoooti Press 

J. S. Cushing- Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



©CI. A 25] I !)n 



FOREWORD 

The " Specimen College Orations," contained in an appen- 
dix to the editor's "The Rhetoric of Oratory," suggested 
the publication, in a separate volume, of a larger collection 
of representative college orations. The sixty-three orations 
in the present volume will furnish a better opportunity for 
comparison and a far greater variety of illustrative matter 
than was possible in the volume first referred to. 

Although collections of college orations representing cer- 
tain sections or organizations have been published from 
time to time, the present volume is the first to cover the 
whole field of American college oratory. It would be 
impossible, of course, to include in a single volume orations 
from all the colleges, or even from all that are doing good 
work along oratorical lines; nevertheless, the orations 
herein contained are, it is believed, fairly representative of 
our colleges, both individually and collectively. 

While this book is intended primarily to furnish selective 
material for critical analysis by students in the colleges 
and higher schools, as a companion volume to " The Rhetoric 
of Oratory," it will also be of interest to the general reader, 
as indicative of what college students of to-day are thinking 
and talking about. And, too, many of the orations repre- 
sent such thoroughness in research and preparation as to 
give them the stamp of authority: they are therefore worth 
reading in and for themselves, aside from their use by stu- 
dents of oratorical composition. 

I wish to take this opportunity of acknowledging my 
indebtedness to many teachers of oratory, who so kindly 



VI FOREWORD 

aided me in securing copies of the orations. Indeed, with- 
out such cooperation the material for this volume could 

hardly have been collated. 

E. D. S. 

The University of Texas, 
September, 1909. 



CONTENTS 

(The order of the orations was determined, so far as practicable, by the 
correlation of subjects. An alphabetical list of the colleges represented 
will be found in the Index.) 

PAGE 

The Spoken Word 1 

Ernest B. Watson, Dartmouth College. 

The Optimism of Christianity 5 

Fred Veston Stanley, Bowdoin College. 

The College and the Press 10 

Hans von Kaltenborn, Harvard University. 

The Patriotism of Stephen A. Douglas ... 14 
Frank Brown, Knox College. 

The Man on the Frontier 21 

Edgar E. Robinson, University of Wisconsin. 

The Common People 28 

James Rion McKissick, University of South Carolina. 

An Issue of Justice : Equal Suffrage for Women . 35 
Joseph Hazen Zearing, University of Illinois. 

Relation of Modern -Isms to Progress .... 42 
Lindley Grant Long, University of Michigan. 

War and Public Opinion 49 

Frank N. Reed, Northwestern University. 

International Arbitration 56 

Frank Albert Faulkinberry, University of the South 
(Sewanee) 

An Appeal for Dramatic Art 62 

Leonard G. Nattkemper, De Pauw University. 
vii 



Vlll CONTENTS 

PAGE 

A Plea for American Drama 69 

Roscoe C. Edlund, Cornell University. 

Builders of Empire 74 

Morris Gabriel Michaels, Amherst College. 

Napoleon Bonaparte: the Saviour of France . . 78 
Lester Disney, University of Arizona. 

The Spirit of Lincoln — the Need of our Time. . 83 
William P. Kelts, Carleton College. 

Robert E. Lee 90 

Thomas W. Moreland, Upper Iowa University. 

Statesman and Nation 96 

Chauncey Frederick Bell, University of Colorado. 

The Negro — America's Great Problem . . . 103 
John V. Dobson, Dakota Wesleyan University. 

Negroes in the United States Army .... 109 
William Francis Woodruff, University of Missouri. 

Intensive and Extensive Development .... 118 
Harry Judson Walker, Denison University. 

The United States in Pan-American Trade . . 123 
Wyatt B. Martin, University of Florida. 

Mastery of Mind 131 

Raphael H. Blakesley, George Washington University. 

The Solid South . . . . . . . .136 

John Freeman, University of Arkansas. 

The Poet Shelley 144 

Charles Mossman McLean, Hamilton College. 

The Nineteenth of April 150 

Peter I. Lawton, Bates College. 

Ethics in American Public Life . 154 

Elmer W. K. Mould, Union College. 



CONTENTS ix 

PAGE 

Character and Politics . 159 

George B. Compton, Columbia University. 

A Public Conscience . 166 

De Roy R. Fonville, University of Virginia. 

The Era of Conscience 173 

William L. Dolly, Jr., Randolph-Macon College. 

The Evolution of Conscience 182 

Jesse Feiring Williams, Oberlin College. 

The Triumph of the Individual 190 

Charles O. Purdy, Drake University. 

The Triumph of Individualism 196 

Towne Young, University of Texas. 

The Call of Duty . . . . . . . .203 

Arthur W. O'Rourke, University of Montana. 

The Rough Riders 208 

Harry Emerson Fosdick, Colgate University. 

The Conservation of our Natural Resources . . 213 
Shirley W. Allen, Iowa State College. 

A Crisis in American Economics ..... 220 
Crate Dalton, Baylor University. 

The Next Step in our Economic Development . . 228 
Leonard F. Chapman, Vanderbilt University. 

Alexander Stephens 236 

Earl Stewart, State University of Iowa. 

The Powers of the Speaker of the House of Rep- 
resentatives 242 

Lloyd Franklin Hess, Lehigh University. 

The Policy of Richelieu 247 

Charles F. Wishart, Monmouth College. 

Democracy and the Trust 254 

Kemp Davis Battle, University of North Carolina. 



X CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Savonarola — Priest and Patriot 261 

Edward Francis O'Flynn, University of Notre Dame. 

The Passing of War 269 

Alvin Ketcham, Ohio State University. 

The Supremacy of Ideas 276 

Malcolm Douglas, Ohio University. 

A Danger Signal — Foreign Immigration . . . 281 
Wheeler J. Welday, Ohio Wesleyan University. 

The Flood-gate flung Wide 291 

Eugene H. Blake, University of South Carolina. 

Democracy and Foreign Immigration .... 298 
James Patrick Boyle, Indiana University. 

The Restoration of the Surplus Boxer Indemnity 

to China by the United States .... 305 

Tai-Chi Francis Quo, University of Pennsylvania. 

The Growth of the United States as a World-power 309 
S. Arthur Devan, Rutgers College. 

The American City 313 

Morris S. Lazaron, University of Cincinnati. 

The City and the State 319 

Orwyn W. E. Cook, University of Southern California. 

Aaron Burr: A Splendid Failure 325 

John Edgar Green, Jr., Southwestern University. 

The System of Child Labor — the Modern Minotaur 332 
Allen Brown Flouton, Syracuse University. 

The Rise of the Southern Commons .... 338 
Thomas Allen Houston, Transylvania University. 

Men of Destiny 348 

Martin Muss en, University of Washington. 

The College Graduate's Debt to Society and the 

State 355 

Leslie Craven, Stanford University. 



CONTENTS XI 

PAGE 

Student Activities in Undergraduate Life . . 359 
John C. Brodsky, New York University. 

The German-American 365 

Richard E. Wenzel, University of North Dakota. 

The True Greatness of the Twentieth Century . 373 
William Erdman, University of Kansas. 

Culture and Service 380 

Isaac Thomas, Princeton University. 

The Call of the Ministry 385 

James M. Howard, Yale University. 

"Mercy that Condemns" 392 

Robert William Prescott, University of Oregon. 

The Reign of the Technicality ..... 398 
Aaron White Pleasants, University of Texas. 



EEPEESENTATIVE COLLEGE OEATIONS 



THE SPOKEN WORD 

Ernest B. Watson 

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE 
(Awarded first place in the Barge Gold Medal Contest of 1902) 

Those who would outstrip even these breathless times 
in their flight, say that oratory is a lost art; even its 
wonderful fascination is locked in that mysterious and 
impenetrable storehouse of the past; that we can see the 
stately figure of the orator only in marble, and his words 
only on the printed page. Can it be that the marvels 
of science, of advanced thought, and of the ever increas- 
ing diversity of modern life have so soon cast aside the 
orator, the servant who in all time has stood as the 
grandest champion of human thought and progress? 

Glance for a moment at the record of his stewardship. 
Great is the honor of memory paid to the armies of Greece 
that fell at Chaeronea in that hopeless struggle against 
Macedon. But the soul of the noble fight was the soul 
of Demosthenes. It was by speech that Brutus, holding 
aloft the knife fresh from Lucretia's slaughter, fired all 
Rome to rise and dislodge the tyrant Tarquin. The 
spoken word of the blind Claudius defeated in debate the 
messenger from Pyrrhus and saved the treasures of Rome 
for future generations. These men, with Cicero, greatest 
of them all, will stand in history's iron memory, side by 
side with Sulla, Marius, and Caesar. 

When the turbulent humanity of the Middle Ages at 
last came to consciousness, it was by the word of Peter 



2 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

the Hermit, whose wonderful personality led where 
Richard of the Lion Heart followed, in pursuit of a vision, 
perhaps, but a vision that led onward in the world's 
growth. 

Wherever moral progress, freedom of thought, and 
human liberty are cherished, the names of Savonarola, 
of Luther, of Calvin, and of Knox will be remembered. 

Go forward another stride. Could there have been a 
Napoleon without a Mirabeau and a Robespierre, or a 
Wellington without the policies forged in the eloquence 
of Chatham, Burke, and Sheridan ? 

Even to-day, while enjoying the privilege of this col- 
lege and this the greatest of nations, we know that both 
of these priceless heritages were saved intact for us by 
lips of eloquence. 

But now we are brought to a sudden stand, and asked 
to believe that history has by a whim closed the record 
of this power, great among the greatest of the ages; that 
the spoken word must yield to the word of artificial com- 
munication. It is a fact that men are more than ever 
jealous of truth, that personal opinion based on careful 
research is replacing the unintelligent and emotional 
public opinion of old. But do these welcome changes 
belittle the services of the orator ? Has he indeed posed 
in the world's great crises as a perverter of truth and a 
misleader of men ? Was Demosthenes a fraud, Cicero a 
quack, Pitt a cheat, and Webster a mere demagogue 
and sophist ? The truth, rather, lifts the orator to higher 
planes of eloquence, and to-day he uses the truth as known 
in the minds of his hearers as Brutus used the knife from 
Lucretia's side, or Antony the "poor dumb mouths" of 
Caesar's wounds. Well may we believe that oratory will 
in the future use higher fulcrums than those upon which 
it has ever yet rested its magic levers, — the fulcrums of 
scientific truth and popular intelligence. 



THE SPOKEN WORD 3 

Why the great orator is no longer with us, is a question 
often propounded. I would rather ask, are we quite sure 
that he is not ? Nature ever keeps her great workmen 
for great crises. The world's orators have risen and 
fallen on the surging tide of events. Our ship is now 
between two great waves of political agitation. While the 
wild crest of disunion is faintly disappearing, there comes, 
bearing quickly and heavily upon us, the portentous 
waves of imperialism and financial strife, through the 
stormy billows of which our ship may yet be guided by 
the helm of eloquence. 

In Congress to-day are men, young and old, whose 
words are eagerly heard and applauded. Scarcely more 
electric in its thrill or powerful in its shock on the senses 
of the American people was the horrible disaster in Havana 
harbor, than were the words "at the command of silent 
lips" which in the Senate laid bare the atrocities of Spain. 

What even to-day can replace the spoken word, en- 
forced by the sympathy of the human voice and the flashes 
of the living intellect ? To know its grandest power, we 
turn naturally to the scene in the history of oratory 
which is nearest our hearts. What power of pen could 
have created the spell that held Webster's hearers hour 
after hour, as he poured the fire of his logic before the 
Supreme Court at Washington? Imagine, if you can, 
how Chief Justice Marshall, Justice Washington, and the 
other dignitaries pressed forward to catch every syllable, 
how after the last argument had left his lips and a few 
fond words expressing his feeling for the college, he re- 
covered his composure, and fixing his keen eyes on the 
Chief Justice, uttered in that deep tone with which he 
sometimes thrilled an audience, these well-known words : 

"I know not how others may feel, but as for myself, 
when I see my alma mater "surrounded like Caesar in the 
senate house by those who are reiterating stab upon 



4 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

stab, I would not for this right hand have her turn to me 
and say, et tu quoque mi fili — and thou too, my son." 

Take from this utterance your conception of the voice 
and presence of Webster, the grandeur of the occasion, 
the directness of the scene, and ask yourself if the rem- 
nant, wonderful though its diction, could approach the 
power of the spoken word. 

As long as the human heart loves the sound of the 
human voice, as long as the supreme pleasure of life is to 
look into the face that betrays a soul in sympathy with 
our own, so long as personality asserts its charm, so long 
will the spoken word endure as the highest grandeur of 
verbal expression. 

It is said that the boy Napoleon played with a cannon, 
that the young Luther delighted in a Latin Bible, Pascal 
in his Euclid, Webster in the Constitution of the United 
States printed upon a handkerchief. Perhaps, could we 
recognize him, there may be some one somewhere to-day 
with a voice of eloquence, turning in his childish hands 
the instrument to the greatest achievement of the twen- 
tieth century. 



THE OPTIMISM OF CHRISTIANITY 

Fred Veston Stanley 
bowdoin college 

(An oration delivered at the Commencement Day Exercises of Bowdoin 
College, 1909) 

The vital force of a religion is very largely in proportion 
to its optimism. A careful study-of Christianity discovers 
that in it there is a strong and victorious energy which 
upholds human life and civilization, which constantly 
aspires to new tasks, which believes in the reality of the 
good and the true, which undertakes the solution of the 
dark and difficult problems of life, which gives to all life 
a meaning, and endeavors to shape it toward an infi- 
nite goal. This optimistic spirit belongs to Christianity 
in an incomparable way. One of the most marked con- 
trasts between the civilization on which Christianity has 
put its stamp and the civilization of Greece and Rome, 
which Christianity displaced, or the civilization of much 
of the Orient to-day, is the hope and energy which uphold 
the one and the hopelessness and inactivity which largely 
prevail in the others. 

The Greeks and Romans looked back longingly to the 
greatness of former days and dwelt upon their past glory. 
Hesiod sang of the time when the gods reigned among men, 
when life was simple and pure, when there was no need of 
law courts or officers, when men did by nature that which 
was right. The Epicureans said, "The gods care not; 
let us enjoy life"; the Stoics taught a calm resignation, 
but gave no hope; Plato dreamed of an ideal republic, 

5 



6 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

but declared that it was impossible of realization because 
human conditions were so evil; and Sophocles cried 
despairingly, "Not to be born is past all prizing best." 
Later Ovid sang of the golden age, which was succeeded 
by the age of silver; then came the age of bronze, and 
finally the cruel iron age, in which evil ruled and men 
suffered. Horace complained that the age of the parents, 
worse than that of the grandparents, had produced a 
worthless race, soon to give to the world a yet more vicious 
offspring; and Virgil declared that everything fast tends 
to degeneracy. 

Morbid brooding and pessimism characterize the Indian 
civilization. The disciples of Buddha speak wistfully of 
a departed glory. With them existence is misery. Their 
highest hope is the hope of extinction. In Brahmanism, 
the golden age of quiescence and ecstasy lies in the past; 
the history of the human race is one of degeneracy; the 
measure of personal character is success in escaping 
activity. Confucianism likewise fashions itself forever 
on the models of the past. It finds in existence no ex- 
alted aim, in humanity no progress toward a goal, only 
an unceasing round that all may be as to-day. 

Christianity alone carries the vigor of its youth, and 
through the strife and change of the centuries still sings 
its song of hope. It looks upon existence as a great good. 
Its purpose is to make each age better than the preceding 
age, — every great moral achievement a prophecy of 
something more divine. Its end is the kingdom of God 
when his will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

This spirit of Christian optimism is not a superficial 
way of looking at the realities of life. It does not over- 
look the dark side of nature nor the problems and sorrows 
of humanity. It does not deny the existence of sin and 
evil. Christ taught that evil is a terrible reality. He 
experienced all that the evil ingenuity of men could devise, 



THE OPTIMISM OF CHRISTIANITY 7 

in the way of hatred, scorn, revilings, and persecution 
even unto death; and yet his gospel is a gospel of hope. 
The secret of this may be found in his sublime and uncon- 
querable faith in God, the loving Father, and in the powers 
and possibilities of men whom he called his brethren. 
The things which naturally would lead men to pessimism 
— poverty, sickness, disappointment, failure, the ap- 
parent triumph of evil forces, even death itself — were 
thrust into the background by his faith in the goodness 
of God. He saw in all men, even the lowest and most 
degraded, possible sons of God, and he believed that, back 
of the sinful habits, wrong desires, and depraved wills, 
there was a basis of good to which he could appeal and 
by which he could lift them toward the moral excellencies 
which he himself possessed. 

This faith in God and in man he has been able to impart 
to his followers. It has led them to see that life is not a 
funeral procession but a victorious march; has made them 
feel that God and all the powers of the universe are on 
the side of all who seek the righteous life. When they 
join him in service for the coming of his kingdom, they 
trust to his power to win their cause and reward their 
labor. They become intensely in earnest in personal 
devotion, strong and helpful in service for others, joyous 
supporters of the great causes of the race. 

The voice of hope sounding in the words of Christ was 
the dominant note of the Apostle Paul; it burst forth in 
the hymns and testimonies of the early martyrs; it 
broke the spell of the Dark Ages and ushered in the Ref- 
ormation; it was heard amid the ranks of the Puritans 
fighting for liberty on the plains of England; it sustained 
the Pilgrims as they set their faces toward the unknown 
perils of the new world. Upheld by it Bunyan, in prison, 
sent his immortal Pilgrim on his journey to the Eternal 
City, William Carey went out to India on his lone mis- 



8 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

sionary enterprise, and Stevenson preached the gospel of 
cheerfulness from an eternal sick-bed. It breathes its 
inspiration into HandePs ''Resurrection Chorus" and 
Tennyson's "In Memoriam." It is echoed back by 
"dusky tribes on distant shores who have learned to sing 
the faith of all the Christian ages." It rings out its 
cheering message to-day from a thousand Christian col- 
leges and from four hundred thousand Christian pulpits. 
It resounds through the life of the modern world and will 
not be silenced. 

The Christian hope has enabled multitudes of men and 
women to face death without terror. The sceptic says 
that death is the dark chasm which lies at the end of all 
paths. "Death," says the book of Genesis, "is a punish- 
ment." "Death," says science, "is no punishment, but 
a law of nature." "Death," says Christianity, "is 
nothing save the gate through which one passes into the 
immortal life. Life is the law of nature and death is a 
natural means to more life and better. Death is the 
lower fact and life is the higher." Christian belief finds 
in the resurrection of Jesus its clearest assurance of a 
life beyond the grave. Harnack, the great German 
critic, says, "Whatever may have happened at the grave 
of Christ, and in the matter of appearances, one thing is 
certain: this grave was the birthplace of the indestruc- 
tible belief that death is vanquished and there is a life 
eternal." On the conviction that Jesus lives, his followers 
still base their hopes in an Eternal City. In the confi- 
dence that he has gone to prepare a place for them, their 
hearts echo back the unwavering words of Browning : — 

" O Saul, it shall be 
A Face like my face that receives thee ; a Man like to me, 
Thou shalt love and be loved by, forever : a Hand like this hand 
Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee ! 
See the Christ stand ! " 



THE OPTIMISM OF CHRISTIANITY 9 

It is true that at times the followers of Christ have 
thought so much of another world in which the undeserved 
sufferings of this world should be compensated and good 
and evil dispensed more justly, that they have relaxed 
their efforts for the betterment of human society, comfort- 
ing themselves with the thought that they were here only 
for a little while and would have a better time hereafter. 
Jesus Christ never did this. He spoke of the life eternal, 
but he also told men to look forward to a better social 
order on this earth, bade them pray for its coming, and 
do their utmost to lighten the miseries of the world, as- 
suring them that only by striving to fulfil the active 
duties of love toward their neighbors could they attain 
happiness here and blessedness hereafter. Modern Chris- 
tianity is largely permeated with the spirit of brotherhood 
and social service. It earnestly denies the charge of 
other worldliness. It teaches that ignorance, poverty, 
crime, vice, and wretchedness are not the necessary ac- 
companiments of human existence, but that life and the 
conditions of life are susceptible of continuous advance. 
It clothes with importance the life that now is, making it 
one with eternity. It sees in the Sermon on the Mount 
the ideal interpretation of the life of man and, fortified by 
the glorious achievements of the past, works in confident 
hope that better and still better may yet be accomplished 
for the liberating of man from every bond that holds him. 
Ideals rule the world ; and the Christian ideal is the proph- 
ecy of what shall be when man and events have hastened 
toward that 

' ' one far-off divine event, 
To which the whole creation moves." 



THE COLLEGE AND THE PRESS 
Hans von Kaltenborn 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY 

(An address delivered at the Commencement Exercises of Harvard 
University, 1909) 

Not long ago, the present ruler of Italy, when he was 
told about a particularly brilliant piece of newspaper 
work, cried out: "If I could not be a king, I would be 
a journalist!" But I wonder whether such enthusiasm 
for the journalist's career could be carried away by any 
young man who spends four years in one of our large 
Eastern colleges ? Throughout his college course educated 
men have impressed upon him the venality and utter 
worthlessness of the American press. The undergraduate 
in Harvard College learns from his professors that news- 
papers are hopelessly inaccurate in their reports, and that 
their English is beneath contempt. If the New York 
Evening Post or the Boston Transcript is praised, it is 
only that the sins of the New York American or the 
Boston Herald may stand forth in bolder contrast. 

This criticism of newspapers combines very naturally 
with adverse comment on the work of newspaper making. 
In college circles journalism is thought of as a possible 
stepping-stone to literature or to political life, a means to 
an end, and not as a career that presents good opportuni- 
ties in and for itself. The very fact that reporters and 
editors often become great statesmen seems to cast some 
discredit on those who fail to rise. The professors of 
literature point out that the best fiction of the nineteenth 
century was written by such newspaper men as Thackeray, 

10 



THE COLLEGE AND THE PRESS 11 

Dickens, Barrie, and Kipling, who forsook their calling to 
undertake literary work. One of our composition teachers 
here at Harvard concludes his class-room each year with 
a little advice to his young friends with regard to jour- 
nalism. The gist of it is that newspaper work, like some 
medicines, is beneficial only when the dose is small. 

How different from all this are the stimuli which drive 
men into other occupations. Technical courses of prep- 
aration are provided for them even in the college, and 
there are graduate schools for the preachers, miners, for- 
esters, engineers, and within the past year we have even 
established one for the bankers and brokers. Leading 
representatives of the medical profession, of the diplo- 
matic service, of various kinds of business, are summoned 
to the college to picture the advantages of their work. 
Only a few weeks ago our president emeritus delivered 
from this platform an address which inspired every teacher 
that heard it with a greater love for his work, and turned 
more than one college man to look upon teaching as a 
possible career. 

Thus the undergraduate is urged into such overcrowded 
professions as law and medicine, because they are ap- 
proved by his teachers and associates, because special 
efforts are made to interest him in them, and because there 
are professional schools to lead him from the blooming 
paths of college theory into the dusty highway of accepted 
business practice. He is turned away from journalism, 
which, with the growing number of magazines and daily 
papers, is a field of expanding opportunities, because he 
does not wish to do a kind of work so generally condemned, 
because no one makes any special effort to rouse his in- 
terest in journalism, and because he must enter the news- 
paper office fresh from college, where he has acquired a 
haphazard mixture of culture and information, but no 
technical preparation for his work. 



12 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

As the result of this difference, journalism has lost and 
is still losing the services of many able college graduates, 
whose tastes and talents incline them to write for the press, 
but who have been made to believe that success in news- 
paper work involves the sacrifice of self-respect. 

The newspapers, on their part, have become suspicious 
of the college man. Even to-day the great majority of 
editors are not college men. They are graduates of the 
remorseless school of experience, and have little respect 
for the bachelor's degree. The office boys whom they 
have trained never assume knowledge where they have 
none ; the college man likes to think that he knows what 
he should know, but since his training has been general 
and not technical he often makes foolish mistakes. To 
be sure, the exceptional man who has a passion for jour- 
nalism overcomes all handicaps. Skilfully and unob- 
trusively he learns to apply his college training where it 
counts, and soon the world sees a Dana, a Lamont, or a 
Hapgood, — to mention only three Harvard men, — who 
has made his way to the top. And in the offices where 
these men have worked, the staff is more patient with 
the young college graduate. There they have found out 
that when college men have once learned the rudiments 
of the business their work excels that of the former office 
boys. But in general, the editor still distrusts the col- 
lege man just as the college man distrusts him. 

But in looking back into newspaper history, in remem- 
bering Garrison and his Liberator, Greeley and his Trib- 
une, Godkin and his Post, we must also remember that 
the conditions under which these men worked no longer 
obtain. We can no more go back to one-man news- 
papers than we can return to one-man burden-bearing 
or to one-man storekeeping. 

Editors like Franklin and Garrison might well say, as 
Luther said to Heuchlin, " Nihil timeo, quia nihil habeo." 



THE COLLEGE AND THE PRESS 13 

The modern newspaper, if it is to go on, must consider 
the capitalists who founded the enterprise, the unions 
that control its mechanical departments, the advertisers 
who supply the major part of its income, and the readers, 
who contribute little money, but who read advertise- 
ments. All these interests have a right to be considered, 
and the newspaper, if it is to continue, must pay some 
attention to their varying demands. It need not truckle, 
it need not barter its independence, but so long as the 
newspaper is a private and unendowed enterprise it must 
show a decent respect for the opinions of those portions 
of mankind that own it, or make it, or buy it. 

The college man should not turn his back upon all 
newspapers because he thinks some are sensational or 
grossly commercial. Let him work on one that is fairly 
good, and do his best to make it better. 

In our large Eastern colleges we need greater toleration 
for the press, more generous recognition of the difficulties 
by which it is beset. If these colleges will adopt a more 
reasonable attitude, if they will encourage young men to 
look towards journalism by recognizing that profession 
in their courses of study, the army of newspaper workers 
will enroll more well-equipped recruits, more men whom 
we can trust with the responsible task of guiding the 
King of America — Public Opinion ! 



THE PATRIOTISM OF STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 
Frank Brown 

KNOX COLLEGE 

(Awarded first place in thought and composition in the Interstate 
Oratorical Contest of 1902) 

The needs of a nation are mysteriously met. A great 
work for the world is to be done: the man for the hour 
is at hand. A war for liberty and humanity is to be 
undertaken: the commander is ready. An urgent call 
for patriotism arises: the patriot is provided. In the 
political turmoil of the ante-bellum days, how great the 
demand for men! Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, old in 
their country's service, had passed away. Fiercer grew 
the strife of sections, less the hopes of compromise; more 
surely impended the clash of arms. During the decade 
preceding the war there stood forth one conspicuous 
figure, — Stephen A. Douglas, senior senator from Illinois. 
About him the storms of political strife raged in fury. 
In the turbulence and anxiety of those times, his grasp 
upon public questions, his convincing eloquence, his 
conservative statesmanship, his high patriotism, rendered 
his country invaluable service. 

For a number of years slavery agitation in Congress 
had been a constant menace to our country's peace. 
Douglas sought to put this agitation out of the control 
of Congress into the hands of the people. Under his 
leadership the Kansas-Nebraska Bill became a law. Its 
fundamental principle, Popular Sovereignty, allowed 
the people of each territory to choose between slavery 

14 



THE PATRIOTISM OF STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 15 

and freedom. The measure pleased neither North nor 
South. On its author fell the merciless censure of the 
nation. No man in public life ever faced opprobrium 
more bitter. Douglas himself said that he could travel 
from Boston to Chicago by the light of his burning effi- 
gies. This man courted the plaudits of the people; few 
have been so sensitive to popular approval. Yet under 
this galling condemnation he never faltered. He believed 
the peace of the country — nay more, the perpetuity 
of the Union — depended upon Popular Sovereignty, 
and to that conviction he steadfastly clung. When the 
Buchanan Administration, backed by a solid South, 
attempted to run counter to the policy of " non-inter- 
vention," tried to fasten upon Kansas the Lecompton 
Pro-slavery Constitution — a constitution notoriously 
adverse to the will of her citizens — then was Douglas 
put to the test. 

The leader of his party, its logical candidate for presi- 
dent, Douglas knew that the ambition of his life was all 
but in his grasp. Estrangement from his party meant 
defeat. President Buchanan made this sinister threat, 
"No Democrat ever broke with a Democratic adminis- 
tration without being crushed." The prince in politics 
now became a king in statecraft. He defied the Ad- 
ministration and the South, set himself against the Le- 
compton outrage, and dealt that legislative iniquity its 
death-blow. 

This controversy brought Douglas increased unpopu- 
larity in the South; in the North, it won him marked 
approbation. Consistent in principle, unequalled in 
debate, loyal to his constituents, he was the idol of his 
followers and the terror of his foes. Again the choice of 
his party for senator, he came to the people for vindica- 
tion. Against him was arrayed, on the one hand, the 
vindictive Buchanan Administration; on the other, the 



16 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

powerful Republican party — its candidate, Abraham 
Lincoln. 

The Lincoln-Douglas debates have passed into history. 
Each was a battle royal between giants. The greatness 
of the theme, the prowess of the champions, the momen- 
tous results of their encounter, made this the great foren- 
sic combat of the century. Douglas maintained the 
right of slavery to enter the territories with the consent 
of the people; Lincoln disputed that right under any 
condition; neither would interfere with slavery where it 
existed; both were determined that the slave-power 
should not divide the Union. 

Victor in this contest, Douglas resumed his leadership 
in the Senate. Then came the presidential campaign 
of 1860 in which the old adversaries led opposing forces. 
Lincoln became President: Douglas saw his life-hope 
recede forever. Soon the peaceful weapons of debate 
gave way to death-dealing instruments of war. Fort 
Sumter convulsed the nation. With the call for 75,000 
troops, the storm was upon us. Darkness draped the 
hills, shadows deepened in the valleys, night was upon 
the prairies. A solid North must meet the solid South, or 
all was lost. What would Douglas do ? 

He had a following of a million and a half — men who 
believed that what Douglas did was right, men who were 
devoted to him personally and trusted him implicitly. 
He was a Democrat to the marrow. Would he disrupt 
his party, a party which had honored him lavishly, a 
party which he had served so long and loved so well? 
Breathlessly the nation waited. The world, expecting 
the " house to fall," watched eagerly. 

Lincoln and Douglas each believed his own the true 
solution of the problem; that the policy of the other 
meant destruction. Thousands of devoted followers of 
the " Little Giant" had wept at his defeat. Wherever 



THE PATRIOTISM OF STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 17 

their hero might lead, they would follow. What would 
he do? 

Toward our country's capital one April Sabbath, 
the eyes of the nation were turned. The smoke had 
scarcely lifted from Sumter. Rebel armies were about 
to move upon Washington. Europe was ready to prey 
upon us. The nation was entering upon its long bitter 
struggle: life or death! Democracy was trembling in 
the balance, the cup of slavery's awful iniquity was full; 
the sword of the angel was drawn. Two men might re- 
main political foes and the nation perish; might stand 
together and the nation endure. 

On that Sunday night came the crisis. The hour was 
yet early. Dusk was merging into darkness. Church 
bells rang out their appeals unheeded. With anxious 
looks men huddled in little groups and talked with grave 
foreboding. Down the street with deliberate tread came 
a familiar figure. Instantly men were strangely silent, 
and looked the thoughts they could not speak. Well 
they knew the messenger and instinctively perceived his 
mission. Unconscious of the terrified city, with no 
thought save the memory of his fathers and the country 
he loved, he passed on, ascended the steps, and entered 
the executive mansion. In the President's room the 
two sons of destiny were face to face : Stephen A. Douglas, 
"the mightiest man of the senate-house," and Abraham 
Lincoln, President of the United States. The question 
was no longer, How shall the constitution be interpreted ? 
but, How shall the Constitution be preserved ? At last, 
these contending champions, the sparks from whose 
clashing swords had kindled the nation's conscience and 
roused the interest of the world, were united. There in 
the heat of impending national disaster the powerful in- 
fluence of these Titan chiefs was forged into a mighty 
thunderbolt, to be hurled on the heads of those who 
would destroy their country. 



18 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

The effect of this was electric. It brought decision to 
millions. Douglas swept through the North, speaking 
day and night. What stirring appeals! In power, how 
magnificent; in patriotism, how sublime! Douglas led, 
men followed. From the hour his solemn exhortations 
rolled across her fields and forests, the North was no 
longer "a, house divided against itself." Unconscious 
that he was speaking from the brink of the grave, his last 
speech flamed with all the fervor of his early manhood, 
and closed with this ringing declaration, " There can be 
no neutrals in this war — only patriots and traitors." 
Then in the noon of his glory, wrapped in the mystery 
of genius and robed in the majesty of death, he passed 
beyond the worship of friend and the calumny of 
foe. 

Many and diverse are the estimates. of Douglas: ad- 
herents have been profuse in eulogy; opponents, pitiless 
in denunciation. Did he believe in slavery ? Under 
the sting of this charge he declared: " Slavery is a curse 
beyond computation to both white and black. But," 
said he, "we exist as a nation by virtue only of the 
Constitution, and under that there is no way to abolish 
it. I believe the only power that can destroy slavery 
is the sword, and if the sword is once drawn, no one can 
see the end." 

These words sounded the key-note of his public life. 
His supreme motive was neither extension of the slave- 
interest, nor gratification of personal ends. He planted 
himself firmly on the Constitution and stood by the 
slave-holder when slavery claimed what the Constitution 
granted; he stood as bravely by the abolitionist in re- 
sisting all claims of slavery not granted by the Consti- 
tution: he would stand by neither when both sought 
to go beyond the Constitution. Ambitious as he was to 
be President, his ambition never exceeded his loyalty, 



THE PATRIOTISM OF STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 19 

never equalled his devotion to principle — a devotion 
which neither party lash nor party threat could intimi- 
date, desire for fame nor thirst for power betray. 

Douglas gave the best energies of his life to repress 
what proved the " irrepressible conflict." His doctrine 
of Popular Sovereignty failed utterly to meet the de- 
mands of the hour. Yet in all he advocated he was 
sincere. We do not speak of the Samuel Adams who lost 
faith in Washington and doubted the efficiency of the 
Constitution. It is Samuel Adams, " Father of the 
Revolution," whom we delight to honor. Before us no 
longer stands Douglas the politician and advocate of a 
political heresy. The impartial years unveil him the 
intrepid champion of the Constitution, a loyal son of the 
flag — Douglas, the patriot. 

Others have brought their offerings of patriotism; 
many have placed their undivided support at the dis- 
posal of friends and political brothers; but who, like this 
man, has given into the hands of his successful rival 
all he had to give ? Such sacrifice of ambition and sur- 
render of self have scarce a parallel. Cicero antagonized 
Catiline, defeated him for the consulship, and Catiline 
conspired to take his life and subvert the Roman Repub- 
lic. Hamilton antagonized Burr, caused his defeat for 
the presidency, and Burr murdered him. To Lincoln, 
his successful opponent and life-long antagonist, Douglas 
summoned the support of more than a million men, and 
Lincoln became saviour of his country and emancipator 
of a race. At the outset, multitudes in the North, of 
both parties, branded the war unholy. John A. Logan 
was outspoken in his opposition. Horace Greeley was 
urging that "the wayward sisters be allowed to depart 
in peace." Had Stephen A. Douglas hesitated, had he 
in any way encouraged the doubtful and the disaffected, 
who shall say that the Civil War might not have begun 



20 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

on the prairies of Illinois rather than on. the hills of Vir- 
ginia ? Where then had been a solid North ? 

Nearly a half century has passed. The smoke of battle 
has lifted, the clouds of hate are scattered, the mists of 
sectional feeling are passing away. Happily the silent 
wings of Time are swifter than the noisy feet of Prejudice. 
The years reveal the motives of men. To-day we are 
beginning to see Douglas, the great actor in the terrible 
drama, as the Ruler of Nations saw him then. Though 
devoted to his party, he gave a larger place to principle. 
A partisan fighter in partisan times, he never paraded 
his party uniform in a time of national peril. In the 
hour of his country's greatest need his patriotism was 
most exalted. The prize, which had been his life's am- 
bition, had been wrested from him by the man who had 
combated every political principle dear to his heart. 
Yet this patriot, with a devotion unsurpassed in the 
story of nations, gave to his victorious antagonist his 
ungrudging support — gave himself that the Union 
might be preserved, and that our great charter of 
liberty — the Constitution — might be forever the heri- 
tage of the children of men. 



THE MAN ON THE FRONTIER 
Edgar E. Robinson 

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 
(Awarded second place in the Northern Oratorical League Contest, 1908) 

The Westerner, the type and master of our American 
life, will soon disappear. This prophecy, made scarcely 
ten years ago by an eminent historian, is partly true. 
For two hundred years our seemingly limitless unoccupied 
land has allured men who preferred the hardships of 
frontier life to the confinements of highly organized 
society. Wave after wave of population eager to grasp 
the great free domain has swept westward over the con- 
tinent. But to-day from the Atlantic to the Pacific one 
people occupy a conquered continent. The Westerner 
as a frontiersman has passed; the charm and romance 
of border life is gone. Yet, I believe that the influence 
of the pioneer movement remains the controlling force 
in our present development; and that the traits of char- 
acter that have made "the Westerner the type and master 
of our American life" will in the future dominate in the 
larger life of the nation. Is it not well for us, represen- 
tative as we are to-night of the Old Northwest, to dwell 
on the rise and the passing of the frontier, and to consider 
the role that the larger West is to play in our national 
life? 

It is natural to look upon the men who with rifle and 
axe fought and blazed their way into the wilderness as 
personifying the spirit of the frontier. We recall the 

21 



22 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

romantic picture of Daniel Boone, who in coonskin cap 
and buckskin leggings threaded his way through a track- 
less forest and, amid perils that might well have terri- 
fied a dauntless soul, erected a cabin home. Such adven- 
turers are indeed the extreme types of the American 
pioneer. The free land which the nation opened up 
impartially has been occupied by a sweeping movement 
of individuals. The continent has been won not so much 
by organized conquest as by restless American individual- 
ism. But the spirit of the frontier is broader than this. 
Ten thousand Boones, Crocketts, and Houstons opening 
up the new country are but the manifestations of a mighty 
spirit of conquest. The real genius of the frontier has 
never been solely the physical occupancy of the new 
country. The West is vastly more than a geographical 
area. As the line of settlement has advanced from 
place to place, frontier conditions have left a passionate 
demand in the heart of Westerners for the widest possible 
range for the freedom of the individual. It is this charac- 
teristic, this frame of mind, this devotion to individual 
freedom, rather than the picturesque individual or the 
geographical area, that has constituted the American 
pioneer movement. 

With this broader significance of the West in mind, 
scholars are to-day asserting that the frontier spirit has 
since 1820 been the controlling influence, in American 
development. The West has stamped the national life 
with freshness and vigor. On the broad stretches of 
our Mississippi Valley religious ideals and educational 
projects have been given a breadth and a reach possible 
only in a new country. The West has kept our immigra- 
tion policy practically free from restriction. There has 
been room for all who would come. It has influenced 
the relations of employer and employee, for the oppor- 
tunity of "going West" has helped maintain a high stand- 



THE MAN ON THE FRONTIER 23 

ard of wages. At the same time the constant stream of 
migration has depleted and weakened the organization 
of labor. A sturdy Western democracy has tended to 
predominate in the politics of the nation. It gave us 
Thomas Jefferson with his idealism, his faith in the people, 
his vision of territorial greatness. In 1829 Western de- 
mocracy broke the succession of aristocratic Eastern 
executives and swept into the presidency that prince of 
frontier personalities, Andrew Jackson. From that time 
forward the West has never lost its hold upon the national 
government. In 1860, firmly resolved that freedom must 
obtain in the new frontier states, the West selected the 
pioneer son of a pioneer father as the one man to unite a 
disunited nation. Abraham Lincoln, the gaunt, rugged, 
self-reliant frontiersman, was the personification of West- 
ern training and ideals. 

Thus we find that the existence of a West has always 
guaranteed to every American social equality, industrial 
opportunity, and political independence. But our stu- 
pendous Western movement has done more than possess 
the continent and dominate the national life. In each 
decade Western statesmen have insisted that the nation's 
land be given to all men on terms of equality. As a 
result there has been developed a type of thoroughly 
American individualism, which means that every man 
shall have the untrammelled opportunity, on terms of 
absolute equality with other men, of going as far as genius 
and daring will carry him. The West made opportunity, 
not the attribute of a select few, but the heritage of every 
citizen. 

But we are told that within the past two decades the 
continent has been conquered. No free land and no 
invigorating frontier, we indeed entered upon a new 
epoch. The new problem of the West began. The last 
twenty years have seen the rise and fall of Populism, the 



24 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

development of a colonial policy, the rapid increase of 
foreign commerce, the preservation of the forests, the 
reclamation of the arid lands; in all of which the aggres- 
sive spirit of the West has dominated national action. 
But the most marked change has been the tremendous 
growth of corporate power and activity. In a certain 
sense the rapid advance of the corporation is due to the 
frontier spirit, giving unhindered sway to men with imagi- 
nation and daring. Strong individuals, such as Rocke- 
feller and Hill, operating under the name of corporate 
activity, are in the strictest keeping with the American 
tradition of unrestricted opportunity. Utilizing their 
tremendous power these individuals have monopolized 
the great agents of public service and have obtained 
control of the necessities of life. By so doing they have 
been constantly encroaching upon the liberty of the mass of 
the people . Equality of opportunity no longer exists when a 
few grow powerful enough to limit the freedom of the many. 
Our Western love of personal freedom has given us pow- 
erful individuals who are to-day denying the masses 
equality of opportunity. When we had primitive border 
conditions, liberty of the individual insured equality; now 
that society is more highly organized unrestricted liberty 
makes possible inequality. In a democracy whose watch- 
word is liberty, we find, strange and startling paradox, 
public liberty threatened by private liberty. 

The West has within the past two decades developed 
this perverted form of personal liberty. How shall we 
retain the principle of individualism and yet prevent its 
excesses ? We recognize that unification of effort, lowering 
of cost, keenness of private initiative, those manifest 
advantages of combination in great industries, must be 
retained. But industrial forces must be subject to certain 
agencies representing the mass of the people. When the 
organized society of the Old World has found that the 



THE MAN ON THE FRONTIER 25 

liberty of the people rested upon industrial control it has 
turned to public ownership. By so doing it has destroyed 
individual initiative. Such a solution is inconsistent in a 
democracy, for the exercise of individual action is at the 
very basis of our growth. Our solution lies not in the 
destruction but in the regulation of individual enterprise. 
The Western spirit that once countenanced absolutely 
unhindered liberty is to-day proclaiming that the freedom 
of a few powerful individuals must be limited in the in- 
terests of the mass of our citizens. 

Do we fully realize the deep political significance of the 
movement of our epoch for government control of indus- 
try ? It means simply that the representatives of the people 
are exercising a wholesome restraint upon the heretofore 
unchecked operations of a few unscrupulous individuals. 
In Chicago government control means that a few street 
car magnates shall not impose upon the liberty of the 
individual by exorbitant fares and wretched service. In 
New York and Wisconsin such control means that the 
insurance companies shall no longer violate their obliga- 
tions to the mass of policy-holders. In the nation it 
aims simply at the preservation of the liberty of the 
masses. It does not destroy any justifiable individualism. 
Only the excesses are prohibited. Street car magnates 
are to own and operate their lines. The insurance com- 
panies are unhindered in legitimate transactions. The 
railroads are permitted to reap rewards proportional 
to their multiplied traffic. The real political signifi- 
cance of government control is to preserve the liberty of 
the many by preventing the excessive liberty of the 
few. 

So we see that as the national government in the first 
epoch by offering free land to every man made sure his 
opportunity, so in the second epoch government is to 
preserve freedom of opportunity, the heritage of every 



26 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

American, by the enforcement of law. The evolution of 
a method by which combinations shall be kept amenable 
to the popular will is the work of the present generation. 
It is the manifestation of larger American spirit that to-day, 
as of old, demands that personal liberty, which is at the 
very basis of our democracy, shall be preserved for all 
on terms of absolute equality. Such Americanism is 
the cry of no class, the creed of no party, the personality 
of no man. It is the national temper embedded deep in 
the hearts of the people. It is a feeling of responsibility 
for his own freedom in the mind of every American. It 
leads to reform movements in corrupt municipalities; 
it dictates the policies of our progressive states; it is the 
moving force in the present national administration. 
It is not the appeal of a single section. The Western 
spirit having successively dominated each frontier, has 
now become the voice of the whole people. 

Since 1492 the American has been the frontiersman 
of the world moving westward. He explored and con- 
quered the new continent. Democracy was born of this 
spirit of adventure, found a home in the practical insti- 
tutions of the Anglo-Saxon, and dominated the conquest 
of the continent. In no country has democracy been 
given such a sweep. Boundless opportunities and limit- 
less resources have beckoned to men with imagination 
and daring. This youthful democracy has presented to 
the world a wonderful type of freedom with its home in 
the vastness of the continent. And to-day as the first 
problem is completed and the continent lies conquered, 
the same spirit of the American pioneer brings forth a 
new doctrine that this democracy shall preserve by au- 
thorized agents the institutions and rights already won. 
The same spirit of resourcefulness, the same belief in the 
destiny of this nation, that developed the democracy 
of our fathers, now brings as the second gift of America 



THE MAN ON THE FRONTIER 27 

to the world, democratic institutions preserved by the 
strong arm of government. 

The Westerner, then, has not ceased to be the type 
and master of our American life. Although the fron- 
tiersman long ago disappeared, we have ever had leaders 
of Western training and ideals. As the problems of the 
first epoch found solution in the democracy of a living 
frontier, so the problems of our day are solved by democ- 
racy in government. As the frontier taught the pro- 
found lessons of individual equality, so the American 
brings to the world the means by which we are to preserve 
the heritage of the nation. Jefferson, Jackson, and Lin- 
coln will always be hailed as the leaders in the creation of 
American democracy. The leaders of our epoch will 
remain as the preservers of a perfect democracy. With 
memory holding firmly the lessons of a glorious past, we 
may wisely heed the words of a leading historian, when 
he says, "Let us see to it that the ideals of the pioneer 
in his log cabin shall enlarge into the spiritual life of the 
nation where civic power shall dominate and utilize in- 
dividual achievement for the common good of all." Such 
may be the influence in our own day of "The Man on 
the Frontier." 



THE COMMON PEOPLE 

James Rion McKissick 
university of south carolina 

(An oration delivered in the Southern Interstate Oratorical Contest 

of 1904) 

Through the silent, solemn march of the centuries, 
through the endless advance of the ages past, fraught with 
conflict and with change, with strife and peace, the roar- 
ing loom of time has woven of countless throbbing human 
threads the imperishable fabric of democracy. Neither 
the sword nor the torch has ever silenced the long, long 
cry of the centuries, and, as the grain of wheat springs up 
from the earth into the ripening blade and is transmuted 
into naming gold by the wondrous alchemy of an unseen 
hand, so have the common people arisen from helplessness 
and obscurity into vigor and strength and might. 

In primitive times, when men made rude implements of 
stone, and worshipped God in the depths of the forest, all 
were equal in power and estate. In the sweat of their 
brows and with the labor of their hands those men of 
primal days worked and toiled in obedience to the divine 
decree, tilling the soil, and struggling against the thorns 
and thistles. Turning their bronzed faces to the azure 
sky and outstretching their helpless hands toward the 
shining firmament, they prayed for mercy, for rest among 
the fig trees and purple vineyards, but there was no 
answer. 

Time stalked onward in his journey, and while the 
sands shifted slowly in the hour-glass of the world's vigor- 

28 



THE COMMON PEOPLE 29 

ous youth, conditions changed, and, out of darkness and 
chaos, law was born. Society became divided and estab- 
lished. . The rude huts grew into rich palaces and the 
strongest and most powerful men cast aside their rude 
axes and spears, donned purple robes, and became the 
princes and kings, the rulers of the common people. 
Meanwhile, in the fields and forests, the people still drove 
their herds of sheep and oxen and reaped their golden 
harvests, with no thought save of their daily bread, day 
by day submitting to the rule of the princes, and day by 
day becoming more and more oblivious of the fact that 
they were created equally to have dominion over sea and 
land ; " to trace the stars and search the heavens for power ' ' ; 
to feel the passion of eternity. Such, in those early 
days, was the origin of the common people. 

There is an indestructible and inevitable law of society 
which divides the human race according to function and 
mental and physical superiority, while still recognizing 
the maxim that all men are created equal and possessed of 
certain inalienable rights. The delusive theories of social- 
ism can never achieve the realization of the doctrine of 
absolute equality. And so it comes about that there are 
distinct divisions, each with its own part to play and duty 
to perform in the history of humanity. Long, long after 
the aristocracy of birth has passed away, the aristocracy 
of wealth will exist side by side with the democracy of 
labor, and it is futile to cherish the hope that some day 
all men may be equal in power, intellect, and political 
strength. The line will ever be drawn between the com- 
mon people and the opulent classes of society. 

The scroll of history unfolds to our vision and there we 
read of the rise and fall of the nations of antiquity — 
proud Nineveh, mighty Assyria, and splendid Babylon 
pass by and sink into ruin and destruction. We catch 
glimpses of the common people and watch them as they 



30 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

march on through hordes of corruption, sin, and retribu- 
tion, suffering under the sway of iron sceptres, writhing, 
writhing in the merciless grasp of greed and avarice. 

Suddenly, a light shot up in the darkness, and, in the 
shadow of the beautiful temples of Greece, liberty blazed 
up on the altars of patriotism and pierced the awful gloom. 
There, in the cycle of national ideals, wrought by sages 
and singers and philosophers, the manacles of tyranny 
were shattered, and, eventually, under the shelter of the 
heroic statue of Pallas Athene, whose brazen shield and 
spear shone afar out on the violet seas where golden ar- 
gosies sailed and the white wings of commerce were spread, 
there the common people forged the eternal bond of de- 
mocracy. Thebes and Sparta and Macedon looked on 
with envious eyes while Athens, in the zenith of her 
transcendent glory, crushed oligarchy and raised her 
lowliest citizens to the grasp of dominion and liberty. 
The common people swayed the helm of government for 
a time; they made wise laws; literature and civic magni- 
ficence flourished; and, from the heights of the Acropolis, 
triumphantly waved the standard of freedom. Soon, 
however, changes came; corruption blighted the land 
and decadence set in — the people were overwhelmed; 
it was Greece, " but living Greece no more." Struggle 
was useless; the dying lion rose up with a majestic roar 
and shook all the surrounding world with his outcries; 
" but it was too late, Greece was only a beautiful dream." 

Yet, in the mighty forests of Germany, the spirit of 
the common people still survived, and when the ancestors 
of the present English nation crossed the seas they bore 
with them the Teutonic love of liberty and the principles 
of individual right and freedom, which, intermingled with 
the Danish spirit of savage independence and the Anglo- 
Saxon courage, made a great and noble type of righteous, 
fearless, and independent manhood. It is a long, long 



THE COMMON PEOPLE 31 

tale of woe and wrong — that of the common people in 
England — a page stained by blood and made holy by 
the grandest heroism and courage. The taxation and 
oppression of the kings; the unjust exactions of a corrupt 
church and clergy; the municipal charters of liberty — 
these culminated in Magna Charta, the victorious achieve- 
ment of the spirit of the suffering and determined common 
people. It has been well said that in other countries the 
struggle has been to gain liberty; in England, to pre- 
serve it. 

Throughout radical changes, the spirit of liberty, 
often suppressed, sometimes well-nigh crushed, was, after 
all, surely growing and coming to its maturity, until at 
length it swept all before it in the vast movements of the 
Renaissance and the Reformation. The epoch of ecclesi- 
astical influence ceased; the productive seeds of- knowl- 
edge were universally disseminated; the burden of ig- 
norance was lifted; the night was past and gone; and in 
the east the light was breaking, for 

"Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again; 
The eternal years of God are hers." 

Finally, so oppressive was the tyranny of the crown, 
and so flagrant its injustice and domination, that the com- 
mon people rose in rebellion, like demons riding on the 
red waves of hell, and established an ephemeral protec- 
torate after the placid hills of old England had reverber- 
ated with the shock of intestine strife. Oliver Cromwell, 
with his common soldiers, his Roundheads, his Ironsides, 
psalm-singing sectaries and farmers, trusting God and 
keeping their powder dry, cleared the way for democratic 
supremacy and sang the death song of despotism. Hardly 
had the olive branch waved aloft, when the throne was 
reestablished, but autocracy had perished, for the people 
gloriously reigned through the House of Commons and 



32 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

firmly rooted republican principles. Internal dissension 
had forever ended. 

" No more the thirsty entrance of this soil 
Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood. 
No more shall trenching war channel her fields 
Nor bruise her flowers with the armed hoofs 
Of hostile paces." 

And to-day in England, the most powerful nation of the 
world, with tropic empires under her dominion, with 
wealth and strength, with martial and civic glory, the 
common people in reality rule, while the crown is but an 
evanescent shadow, an emblem of buried royalty, of power 
forever crushed. 

Bloody was the tragedy which the common people 
enacted in sunny France ; her beautiful valleys were red 
with revolution; coronets crumbled and sceptres were 
shattered ; the common people were filled with riot and 
revolt. England stood for liberty: France, for equality. 
The sanguinary revolution changed the kingdom into an 
empire, the empire into a republic, and France, like an 
angel of wrath, rose up splendid and terrible, before a 
cowering continent, and established the liberty, equality, 
and fraternity of the common people. 

As the strong young branch springs out from the sturdy 
and venerable oak which has weathered the ravages of 
the years, so from Britain sprang America, whose people 
blend Irish courage, English honesty, and Scotch sim- 
plicity into a lasting and ardent patriotism. The Amer- 
ican republic is the magnificent incarnation of democracy. 
The common people, ever striving to cast off the yoke of 
unbridled tyranny, ever fighting for principle, ever fighting 
with that courage which knows not defeat, gained their 
independence. Above the crimson ensign of the lion, 
through the parting mists of the battle, triumphantly 
fluttered the patriot's flag. It was the common people 



THE COMMON PEOPLE 33 

who won the fight — and to them all glory and praise — 
time-honored battlefields recall the famous hymn: 

"By the rude bridge that arched the flood, 
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, 
Here once the embattled farmers stood, 
And fired the shot heard round the world." 

And to-day the hope, the future, and the safety of the 
republic lie in the common people, the bulwark of con- 
stitutional liberty. Simple, brave, honest citizens they 
are, distinguished by the loftiest patriotism — proud in 
poverty, for 

" Is there for honest poverty, 

That hangs his head, and a' that; 
The honest man, though e'er sae poor, 
Is king of men for a' that;" 

and they stand as living examples that it is character 
which creates a nation, for "of thorns men do not gather 
figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes." 

All praise, all honor, all glory to the common people — 
let not their patriotism be scorned nor spurned nor de- 
spised, for in it flames and brightly blazes the eternal light 
of civil liberty. Across the flood of the years, on the vague 
shores of time, are the trackless deserts where Babylon 
stood and the broken arches and crumbling temples of 
Rome and Greece — and we pray God that the common 
people may never falter in their sacred purpose — that 
they may ever continue in the sublime courage which is 
the stronghold of freedom — that they may trample 
underfoot prejudice and maintain the law — fervently 
we pray that on and on and on through the ages they 
may march with fearless, dauntless tread, ever bearing 
aloft the burning torch of democracy. 

The threatening black clouds of the morning have 
dissembled, leaving a rift of clear blue sky, unmarred by a 



34 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

single sombre sign — the storm has swept utterly away 
and there is peace — far — far down on the silent, tran- 
quil earth, the common people uplift their anxious faces 
to the firmament, and, in its splendid sapphire setting, 
Truth, the shining star, bids them advance. Now the 
celestial brightness falls in radiant glory, and the common 
people, in humble and lowly adoration, outstretch their 
pleading hands to the heavens, and from the silence of 
the eventide comes the devout prayer of their brave and 
courageous hearts: 

"Far called our navies melt away; 

On dune and headland sinks the fire. 
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday 

Is one with Nineveh and Tyre. 
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet — 
Lest we forget, lest we forget." 



AN ISSUE OF JUSTICE: EQUAL SUFFRAGE 
FOR WOMEN 

Joseph Hazen Zearing 
university of illinois 

(Awarded first prize in the Illinois State Equal Suffrage Contest, held 
under the auspices of the Chicago Woman's Club, 1907) 

In the early days of history, woman was a being of 
little consequence. She was almost entirely subject to 
the will of man, and it can be truthfully said she scarcely 
had a right of her own. But as the light of civilization 
grows brighter from year to year, conditions change. 
To-day she holds a position of trust and responsibility in 
every profession, in every dignified sphere of activity. 
To-day she enjoys the right of citizenship, social distinc- 
tion, and freedom of religion ; and she, as well as man, is 
entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 
But with all these acquirements and privileges, the right 
to vote is not hers. How can such conditions prevail ? 
Why has not woman, a creature endowed with as many 
virtues and capabilities as man, the privilege of stepping 
to the polls on election day and of casting her ballot for 
principles she knows to be right, for principles she knows 
to be for the betterment of mankind ? These are ques- 
tions that must be answered by the American people of 
the twentieth century. 

The late Senator Hoar, addressing the Massachusetts 
legislature, once said that he was first converted to equal 
suffrage by finding that he could not argue against it for 

35 



36 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

five minutes without denying the fundamental principles 
of representative government. Susan B. Anthony, held 
dear by the foremost women of our country, based her 
stand upon the preamble to the Federal Constitution, 
arguing that "we the people" meant not white male 
citizens, but the whole people who formed the union. 
These bases, it is true, are firm and undeniable, but there 
is no need of formulated principles to justify equal suf- 
frage. There is a fundamental and substantial ground for 
maintaining woman's right to the ballot, and that is the 
ground of reason and justice. In Chicago to-day three 
of the largest property owners and taxpayers are women. 
Yet these same women have no more voice in the matter 
of governing their property or in the way of distributing 
their taxes than has the humblest peasant of despotic 
Russia. Such a condition is by no means prevalent in 
Chicago alone, but throughout the length and breadth* 
of our land can be found the same state of taxation with- 
out representation. At the close of the eighteenth century 
taxation without representation led our colonists to revolt 
against the despotism of England; it led them to engage 
in one of the greatest wars of history; it led them, in the 
words of Lincoln, to " bring forth upon this continent a 
new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the prop- 
osition that all men are created equal." Well, also, 
may the tyranny of taxation without representation, 
which still remains, lead the tax-paying women of America 
to revolt against the despotism of men's laws; well may 
such tyranny lead them to engage in a struggle for their 
right to a voice in the government ; well may such tyranny 
incite them to bring about in America a condition of equal 
suffrage, unlimited, that will remain for all time. 

The woman suffrage movement has its opponents 
everywhere. Some raise the objection that men and 
women mingling at the polls will endanger morality. 



AN ISSUE OF JUSTICE 37 

The argument is idle. American women walk the streets 
unveiled, address public meetings unquestioned, hold 
responsible positions unopposed, and in some states vote 
for school committees unhindered. Are they thereby 
demoralized ? Nobody believes it. Is their virtue 
thereby polluted ? No one can reasonably assert it. 
These useful, active women are not sullied by any breath 
of calumny. On the contrary, their interest in affairs 
mentally and morally strengthens them and exerts an 
influence that is a lasting benefit to humanity. 

Men say they know women who do not wish to vote, 
who think it is not womanly to mingle in the brawl of 
politics. But what would the honorable gentlemen say 
to the proposition that they themselves should not vote, 
because their neighbors might not wish to ? They would 
call it unreasonable and unjust. There may have been 
slaves who preferred to remain in bondage — was that 
an argument against freedom ? Suppose there are a ma- 
jority of the women of this state who do not wish the right 
of suffrage — is that any reason for depriving a few heavily 
taxed women, who are property owners, of a voice in the 
levying and the distribution of their taxes ? But the 
man who has the idea that most women do not wish to 
vote should cross the Atlantic, and ask the women of 
England the facts about the matter. They will give him 
vivid accounts of open battles waged in the streets of 
London ; they will tell him how they bombarded the 
House of Commons to make known their desires for 
political representation; they will startle him with their 
strong feelings of righteous indignation over their dis- 
franchisement and lack of power. These sentiments are 
heartily approved by the women of our own states. They 
are beginning to feel, and they have a right to feel, that 
their quiet forbearance is no longer to be maintained, but 
that the strenuous measures of their English sisters are to 



38 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

be adopted. And yet men say that women do not wish to 
vote, and do not think it womanly to mingle in political 
affairs. 

But these antagonists, changing their attitude, contend 
that although women now may wish enfranchisement, 
they will not vote after their desires are granted. The 
man who takes this stand should go to Colorado and ask 
the two hundred thousand women there the truth about 
the matter. And they will tell him of their societies that 
have been formed, and of the abundant benefits that 
have been derived, since the establishment of equal 
suffrage there in 1893. They will tell him that a large 
majority of the two hundred thousand cast their ballots 
on election day, and that men and women working in 
harmony have created a standard of civic righteousness 
in Colorado, from which no one is willing to depart. 

Such considerations as these cannot fail to prove to 
the unprejudiced mind that by the establishment of equal 
suffrage the ends of justice will be promoted. Yet it is 
not on the ground of reason and justice alone that we make 
our plea for woman's right to the ballot, but we also urge 
it from the viewpoint of expediency and in the interests 
of our common welfare. 

Public affairs are now at the point where they most 
need the elements which only women can introduce. 
Among the educational and social questions that are 
constantly confronting us is the child labor problem. 
To-day many mothers in our land are exerting their in- 
fluence to the utmost in order to protect working children. 
They have sent petition after petition to our state leg- 
islatures asking that the employment of children might 
be regulated; but by powerful corporations, who want 
wages kept low, their earnest endeavors have been 
throttled and their measures have been defeated. Go 
with me to the Southern mills and see the children toiling 



AN ISSUE OF JUSTICE 39 

there, half-clothed, half-fed, living in the midst of im- 
morality and ignorance, and subjected to the brutality 
of hardened overseers. In their earliest years they know 
nothing but toil. They are cruelly deprived of their 
childhood. Men, weighed down with duties and cares of 
business, and hardened by the headlong rush of this com- 
mercial age, pay little attention to the needs of children 
that are not their own. The solution of the child labor 
question depends upon the women of our nation. Arm 
the women of this country with the ballot and the latent 
mother instinct will immediately assert itself. Arm the 
women with the ballot ; then their petitions will have 
force, and the evils of child labor will be eradicated. 

The liquor question is one of the burning problems of 
our nation. Public speakers have discussed it; ministers 
of the gospel have plead for local option ; and mothers 
have prayed that this curse of the nation might be blotted 
out. Yes, it is the mothers of the land who have watched 
their sons throughout the years of their infancy and youth, 
sacrificing that they might not be humiliated, suffering 
that they might be gladdened. It is the mothers who, 
when their sons are led astray by the drink curse, must 
bear the burdens of disgrace and degradation. They 
must suffer in silence, for they have no voice in the govern- 
ment. The liquor demon has raged in our American land 
for years ; and it will continue to rage until the concor- 
dant voice of the majority is raised against it. That 
voice will not be raised until women are given a chance 
to declare their sentiments and to express their demands; 
that voice cannot be raised until they are permitted to 
cast their ballots for their own self-respect and self-pro- 
tection. 

But the assistance and influence of woman is needed 
in another quarter. The realm of politics and political 
organizations is to-day invaded by the evils of corruption. 



40 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

Our municipalities are replete with graft and fraudulent 
practices. The evils of bossism and bribery are deplored 
by all who favor good government. At every election 
all material interests are abundantly represented, but a 
vast proportion of spiritual influences have no direct 
expression. The result is a material development unsur- 
passed in the world's history, and also a moral retrogres- 
sion before which people stand appalled. How can such 
a state of affairs be rectified ? How can politics be purged 
of corruption and infused with the spirit of morality? 
We believe that it can be best accomplished by the in- 
fluence of women, and in order that their influence may 
be best exerted, we must invest them with the right of 
representation in politics, and with the right of suffrage 
equal to that of men. 

All history is filled with accounts of strife and warfare, 
and war has had a remarkable influence on our national 
development. But we have now entered upon an era of 
peace. Arbitration is triumphing over military struggle, 
peaceful negotiations over force, and deliberation over 
the resort to arms. The Hague Tribunal is achieving 
wonders, and our own President, Theodore Roosevelt, 
though a hero in battle, is exerting his power to promote 
peace among all nations. Yet in spite of all this, the 
spirit of militarism still smoulders in the breasts of many 
of our citizens. At the Jamestown Exposition the 
army and navy will be displayed in all their glory. The 
science and the art of war is to be emphasized as though 
the glory of our manhood lay in our ability to overawe, 
crush, and destroy the very peoples who only three years 
ago joined hands with us and with each other in foster- 
ing the growth of an international brotherhood. It must 
be acknowledged that the spirit of peace needs encourage- 
ment in this country. The love of peace is a womanly 
quality, and that quality is needed in our public life. 



AN ISSUE OF JUSTICE 41 

American women may be depended upon to vote as 
their own womanly natures dictate. Then if women are 
more considerate of the welfare of others than are men, 
their votes will regulate educational and social evils ; 
if they are more temperate, their ballots will advance the 
cause of temperance ; if they are more law-abiding, their 
influence will promote law and order ; and if they are less 
belligerent than men, their voice in the government will be 
a power for international peace. Women are entitled to 
representation ; they are needed in public life. Womanly 
women and manly men are required to work in harmony 
to promote (in the words of our martyred President) 
"a government of the people, by the people, and for the 
people, that shall not perish from the earth." And with 
such a government there will be inaugurated a reign of 
purity and peace that will cause our American nation 
to stand as a shining example before the peoples of the 
earth. 



RELATION OF MODERN -ISMS TO PROGRESS 

Lindley Grant Long 
university of michigan 

(First-honor oration in 1894 at the University of Michigan and in the 
Contest of the Northern Oratorical League) 

Man ever aspires to rise above his present level. Con- 
sciously or unconsciously he moves onward and upward. 
With or without clearly defined methods, he labors to 
diminish human misery and increase human happiness. 
The past has seen his plans poorly developed. Present 
philosophy has a clearer conception of life's problems, 
and better theories for their solution. The present social 
discontent has produced various theories of social recon- 
struction. Prominent among these are Nihilism, Anar- 
chism, Communism, and Socialism. These four are 
alike, in that they spring from a common cause and are 
means aimed at a common end. 

To understand the relation of modern -isms to progress, 
it is necessary to know what constitutes progress now. 
The word progress is ambiguous. To crown a king may 
be progress to-day; to dethrone him may be progress 
to-morrow. To foster monopoly may have been progress 
yesterday; to muzzle monopoly may be progress to-day. 
Hence, a clear conception of present social conditions is 
necessary to a perfect understanding of the relation of 
modern -isms to progress. 

We live in the present, but for the future. To forecast 
the future, we must understand the present; to under- 
stand the present, we must know the past. Let us turn 

42 



RELATION OF MODERN -ISMS TO PROGRESS 43 

to history and learn her secret. She teaches us that man 
loves liberty, and hates oppression. Though hated, op- 
pression has been the great fact in history. Its insidious- 
ness catches man in the snare of his own instincts. Being 
religious, he is religiously oppressed. Being political, 
political burdens are heaped upon him. Being indus- 
trial, the chains of industrial slavery are forged. 

Let us consider these three. Religion is the noblest 
instinct of the soul. It is the divine in man reaching out 
after God. It lifts the savage from savagery; it breaks 
the chains of slavery; it opens the prison cell. It calms 
the angry waves of passion that roll in the human breast. 
Religion is the beneficent mother of faith, hope, charity. 
Justice and mercy are her attributes, love her offspring, 
and God her father. Yet, man's noblest possession has 
been most basely abused. The crystal stream of religion 
has been polluted by the dregs of human corruption. 

Planted in the virgin soil of a true religion, the Chris- 
tian church grew to enormous dimensions. Under the 
shadow of its branches slept an entire continent. Its 
first-fruits were fruits of truth and righteousness. Its 
degenerate old age reaped a harvest of corruption. From 
stem and every branch breathed forth a foul contagion 
that poisoned the very air in which it lived. But behold, 
shivered by the thunderbolts of the Reformation, this 
giant upas tree withers and falls; and from its rotting 
stump spring the new branches, Protestant and new Catho- 
lic, which blossom and bear the fruits of a true religion. 
This marks the downfall of religious despotism. 

Man lives not to himself alone. His social nature for- 
bids it. Against individuality is opposed society. If 
society would realize its highest possibilities, it must be 
organized, directed; hence the state, the government. 
Without government society would be chaos. Govern- 
ment anchors society to a rational purpose. It supplies 



44 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

the conditions under which the social plant may germi- 
nate, flower, and fructify. It guides the latent energies 
of a nation into channels of highest good. Around each 
humble subject it throws the mantle of protection. 

The essence of government is an undoubted good. 
The form has been the riddle of the ages. Monarchy, 
Aristocracy, Tyranny, Plutocracy, Despotism, — all have 
been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Yet, 
government is indispensable. Whether government 
shall or shall not exist, the common sense of humanity 
has settled. The question is: Whence the power that 
propels the governmental machine ? Is it from the throne 
or from the hearthstone ? History says it has been from 
the throne, shall be from the hearthstone. Caesar is 
dead. Hapsburg and Bourbon have fallen. Their spirit 
still survives. Clad in imperial garb, it sits to-day on 
the Russian throne. Freedom bathed her hands in 
royal blood and stained the Bourbon lily. It remains 
for her to throttle the Russian bear. Political tyranny 
is not dead. Political freedom is but a half-truth. 

Industry is the mainspring to civilization. War may 
batter down the barriers between petty states and weld 
them into a nation. Religion may proclaim the brother- 
hood of man, and teach that all men should live together 
in harmony. Industry brings men face to face, and binds 
them together with cords of mutual interest. Industry 
has its roots in human wants. These generate the power 
that drives the industrial machine. The waving harvest, 
the buzzing spindle, the flaming furnace, are but the ser- 
vants of man's wants. The thundering train bearing its 
costly burden, the stately vessel ploughing the mighty 
deep, are driven by the magnetic power of human wants. 

We stand at the confluence of all the industrial forces 
of the past. This is an Augustan age of industry. Art, 
literature, philosophy, politics, religion, are secondary 



RELATION OF MODERN -ISMS TO PROGRESS 45 

to the one all-pervading, all-consuming idea — industry. 
Science has lent a helping hand in rearing this colossal 
structure. Every great age boasts of its great products. 
What are the boasts of the present age ? — millionnaire, 
— tramp. The sixteenth century saw religious despotism. 
The eighteenth century saw political despotism. The 
nineteenth century sees industrial despotism. And to-day 
the Sultan, Capital, sits on the industrial throne. 

The many have ever been servants to the few. Since 
his first bondage, man has longed for freedom. Listen to 
the mummified millions buried in the sands of Egypt. 
" Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands 
mourn." Hearken to the sad notes of the Greek slave. 
Under the shadow of the loftiest mountain surges the 
deepest sea. Under the shadow of Plato's genius surges 
the deepest misery. What can the Roman slave say of 
Roman splendor ? "To be a Roman was greater than a 
king, ' ' but not to be a Roman was worse than a beast. Lis- 
ten to the wail rising from the forgotten grave of the Ger- 
man serf. Princes, priests, and plutocrats have been the 
plunderers of the poor. Above the din of industry hear 
the voice of labor: "The paupers in the palace rob their 
toiling fellow-men." 

Religious despotism is dead. Political despotism still 
lives. Industrial despotism is at its best. With crying 
humanity on one hand, and gloating despotism on the 
other, what, I would ask, is progress to-day ? If it be not 
battering down the bulwarks of despotism, and setting 
prostrate humanity on its feet, what is it ? If it be this, 
then the relation of modern -isms to progress can be ex- 
pressed in one sentence: each is a thrust at modern 
tyranny. 

Nihilism, Anarchism, Communism, and Socialism 
have a single origin. They spring from the deep-seated 
discontent with present social conditions. They have 



46 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

swept the keys of the social gamut, and found nothing but 
discord. Touched by the magic ringers of this new phi- 
losophy, these jarring notes are to be transformed into 
strains of sweetest harmony. Shattered by one fell blow, 
the pillars of modern society must crumble, and be re- 
placed by columns of a nobler form, j The ideals of modern 
-isms may be a dream, but their existence illustrates an 
important fact. It proves that those who for centuries 
have been ground under the heel of tyranny are able to 
stand and strike. It is a good omen. It is the harbinger 
of a better day. 

Nihilism is a shaft aimed at the breast of absolutism. 
Its philosophy is expressed in one word — destruction. 
What would it destroy? All is vanity; all must be de- 
stroyed. Whatever is, is wrong, and must perish. Friend- 
ship, love, family, state, church, God, are false, therefore 
must perish. Whence, you ask, is this dagger-pointed 
philosophy ? It is a compound of despair and dread, the 
product of German pessimism and Russian tyranny. 

Anarchism is the arch-enemy of government. Yet, 
much of the fear generated by the word is uncalled for. 
Extract the nihilistic poison from anarchy, and you have 
an example of faith in humanity unparalleled. Its 
philosophy soars on optimistic wings to heights where 
degraded humanity can never hope to climb. What is 
this little-understood, much-abused philosophy ? Its ma- 
jor promise is: government is the root of all evil. Its 
minor : human nature is essentially good. From these 
premises the anarchist draws the conclusion, that gov- 
ernment is unnecessary and that man, restrained by no 
law, save the law of his own being, will rise to the fullest 
realization of all the possibilities of his nature. This 
unbounded optimism of anarchy is its worst fault. It 
fails to treat humanity as it is. 

Communism would cure social ills by applying religion. 



RELATION OF MODERN -ISMS TO PROGRESS 47 

The communistic motto unlocks the entire system, 
"From each according to his ability, to each according to 
his needs." In communism the social unit is the group. 
Here everything is held in common. All labor, all share 
the product. Social equality, moral rigidity, industrial 
frugality, and passive obedience to the general will, are 
the main features of communism. Communism would 
destroy the family, crush personal liberty, strangle in- 
dustry, and endanger nationality. 

Nihilism and anarchism are essentially political. Com- 
munism is half religious, half industrial. Socialism is 
purely industrial. Socialism is the cold-blooded murderer 
of individualism. It is continental philosophy aiming the 
death-blow at English philosophy, Karl Marx crossing 
swords with John Stuart Mill. Appalled by the wreck 
and ruin wrought by unbridled competition, socialism 
would overturn the entire competitive system. Social- 
ists are not the enemies of rich men; but they despise an 
industrial system which builds mountains of wealth be- 
side the hovels of abject poverty. What, then, is the 
socialistic programme? "The complete transformation 
of private and competing capitals into a united and col- 
lective capital." The strict logical sequence of this 
proposition is almost beyond conception. The present 
gigantic industrial fabric, built up by the brains of cen- 
turies, is to be swept away by the mountain-wave of 
socialism. How is this enormous revolution to be accom- 
plished? By making the state complete owner and 
controller of all the means of production. Though making 
industry supreme, socialism destroys the strongest motive 
to industrial activity — self-interest. Striving to secure 
industrial liberty, it forges the chains of industrial slavery. 
To curb the excesses of an irresponsible individualism, 
it builds a paternal despotism. 

As a model for the reconstruction of society, modern 



48 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

-isms are a failure. As a force in the movement of prog- 
ress, they are a success. The value of modern -isms lies 
in the fact that they are all extremes. Nihilism and 
anarchism are the opposite extremes of political despotism. 
Communism and socialism are the other extreme of in- 
dustrial individualism. Having these extremes, it is 
possible to strike the happy mean. The political mean 
is liberal, constitutional monarchy, or republican form of 
government. The industrial mean is a wise and equitable 
adjustment of the relations between the individual and 
the state, in all means of industry. The state has its 
province, the individual his. What touches all, let the 
state control. What peculiarly concerns the individual, let 
him control. Along these lines the two great industrial 
problems of to-day must be solved, — Monopoly, Labor 
Problem. Monopoly is a tumor which pains all, and must 
be lanced by the instrument of all — government. The 
labor question is a question of liberty, and must be solved 
like all questions of liberty, — by those oppressed. Who 
wrung religious freedom from the hands of a tyrannical 
hierarchy ? The religiously oppressed. Who buried the 
Bourbon throne under the ruins of a French empire ? 
The politically oppressed. Who shall drag sable des- 
potism from the industrial throne and set white-robed 
liberty there ? The industrially oppressed. When re- 
ligious, political, and industrial freedom shall be a truth, 
then will modern -isms have fulfilled their mission; then 
will the joyful tongues of untold millions welcome the 
rising sun of a new day; then will man stand up and say, 
" Liberty is mine." 



WAR AND PUBLIC OPINION 
Frank N. Reed 

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 

(This oration received first prize in the Kirk Contest in Oratory at 
Northwestern University, and second prize in the Contest of the Northern 
Oratorical League, 1906.) 

This should be an age of progress, not of war; of de- 
fence, not of destruction; of life, not of death. 

War has had its place in history. Many times have the 
armies of the past been a guardian, an outpost of defence, 
warding off the barbaric vandals from the homes of the 
people and from the workshops of peaceful industry. 

We still build statues to great masters of defensive war, 
masters like Leonidas, Garibaldi, Wellington, Washington. 
We visit battle-fields where brave hearts have " poured 
forth their last full measure of devotion ' ' ; and we keep 
green our hallowed mounds ; we have never allowed honor 
to be called a dishonor, nor loyalty to be called a crime; 
our feet instinctively mark time to the roll of the drum ; 
our natures are attuned to the notes of the bugle ; we love 
our stars and stripes more fervently because our fathers 
poured out their sacred blood in their defence. 

We know that often the stagnant pool of indifference 

has been cleansed by war. Were you and I Russian 

peasants, living lives of degenerate slavery, oppressed by a 

nobility which is steeped in ease and false contentment, 

we would risk our lives for one breath of freedom — even 

die in the rapture of a new-born liberty. We love that 

spirit in a man which will cause him to forsake home, 
e 49 



50 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

forget happiness, enter the front rank at the first call, 
march into an open field, face the enemy, answer the com- 
mand of his captain with a smile, join in the thrilling 
war-cry as it passes along the line, advance, sweeping all, 
as he goes triumphant to victory. 

Yes, war has been glorified on the pages of history, but 
our social, moral — all our virtuous instincts tell us that 
war is wrong. The world is growing wiser; we are learn- 
ing that there is something purer, deeper, nobler than war. 
Reverence for human life, respect for the opinions of the 
majority — these are the influences which have been 
permeating society, crowding out, from age to age, bloody 
factions and contentions. More and more are we follow- 
ing an instructed and powerful public conscience, sensitive 
to the public opinion of enlightened races, alive to the 
great truth that the highest object of a nation should be 
to protect, not its little section only, but the interests of 
the world. 

The nations have ceased to fight in the spirit of myth, 
legend, and romance. Experts tell us that modern war- 
fare to the finish means the utter extermination of one or 
of both contestants. What does romantic courage mean 
to a soldier to-day, when on the march an enemy unseen, 
unheard, cuts him down with a shower of lead like hail 
from a clear sky; when in battle the needle-gun mows 
down his comrades in deep swaths like grass; when in 
camp, snatching a few moments' sleep, one Vesuvian up- 
heaval hurls the whole army to destruction ? Is this the 
old time courageous contest of arms ? No, it is the wear- 
ing anxiety, the awful suspense of waiting, waiting for a 
conflict of monster machines, of knowing that there must 
be one appalling, wholesale sacrifice to the god of war. 

On a glad morning last May, the news flashed around 
the world that Admiral Togo had sunk seventeen Russian 
ships, and had sent eight thousand men to a watery grave. 



WAR AND PUBLIC OPINION 51 

What must have been the agony of those men, no one 
knows. It is a solemn secret of the deep. But that was 
not all the suffering: those ships had cost millions of 
dollars; dollars represent work; work is stored life; 
think of the thousands upon thousands of days of squan- 
dered life. Now, if you will look for the victims of that 
struggle in the depths of that blue sea, you will find not 
alone those eight thousand corpses, but interworked in 
every rope, every crevice, every bolt, and every bar — 
life, life, aimless, squandered life. Oh, the lingering 
suffering, the prosaic suffering, that attends a nation pre- 
paring for war, sustaining war, or recovering from war! 

Scientific improvements come fast. Costly equipments 
of to-day will be discarded for something more modern 
and deadly to-morrow. To-day England builds a large fleet 
of war-ships ; to-morrow Germany takes fright and builds 
even larger and better ships ; then England, with her great 
floating death dragons, must out-class Germany. And 
so it goes, until truly it seems that the day is near when 
a nation, to be supreme upon the seas, must build artificial 
volcanoes and earthquakes. Oh, the waste of stored life 
that could be used for the benefit of humanity ! Oh, the 
inglorious sufferings which no one sees and no one hears, 
but which eat so deep into the very vitals of human prog- 
ress ! Oh, the awful blood-tax, the pitiless financial 
burdens of war, laid upon this poor, needy world ! 

Are war debts and national poverty to be our legacy to 
coming generations ? Are you a German ? you are spend- 
ing half your taxes for present armament. Are you a 
Frenchman? your Franco-Prussian war cost you one 
billion, five hundred million dollars. France now spends 
five times as much for her army as for her schools; Italy 
spends eight times as much for her army as for her 
schools; Russia spends twelve times as much. Shall we 
continue to have vast industries destroyed, the productive 



52 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

power of a whole people and its social and moral energies 
exhausted by ravenous war ? 

And the cause for so much of our past bloodshed has 
been — public opinion. Mothers, teachers, priests, and 
poets have instilled into the hearts of the people a love for 
war, a public opinion which has supported wars of conquest 
instead of condemning them. Princes and statesmen of 
all ages have exhibited their victorious leaders, and have 
appealed to the patriotic spirit of their citizens, taking 
advantage of that spirit to instigate war for individual or 
national selfish gain. "O patriotism, what crimes have 
been committed in thy name !" The mighty future is no 
longer for a royal house or for a pampered few, but every- 
where, in every land, for humankind. In our magnifi- 
cent temples of fame there is no more room for military 
heroes; other halls must be built and grand galleries con- 
structed for daring representatives of the people — heroes 
of peace. In our grand galleries, do you not see, at the 
feet of every hero, thousands upon thousands of com- 
mon soldiers languishing upon beds of sickness, tossing 
and moaning in feverish agonies; thousands upon thou- 
sands of ruined homes, where mothers and wives and 
innocent children are eking out a wretched existence in 
abject poverty? Do you not hear all these, and thou- 
sands of kindred sufferers, lifting up holy prayers to the 
mighty God of peace? And should we not join this host 
in a universal chorus : Hasten the time when patriotism will 
not mean the mutilation of human beings f 

The spirit of peace is wholesome and progressive. Peace 
has its conflicts, and these conflicts demand courage and 
self-sacrifice — not for degrading, but for uplifting hu- 
manity. Science has revolutionized the world, and it 
has opened up great fields for struggle in political and 
economic adjustment. The fighting instinct that en- 
abled Watt to perfect his steam engine in the face of trying 



WAR AND PUBLIC OPINION 53 

opposition, has done more for civilization than the prowess 
of all the generals, or the destructiveness of all the engines 
of war. The conquering spirit that enabled Edison, 
Morse, and their associates to surround the globe with 
" nickering streaks of lurid flame, making the whole earth 
a whispering gallery charged with great sensations every- 
where spread round like light, so that we think and feel 
in great masses" — this, I say, has done more for the 
world than the works of all the victorious heroes who have 
been applauded by furious mobs. 

We advocate neither sudden nor reckless disarmament, 
but we call for sanity and justice in international affairs. 
What has removed the helmet from our citizens, the port- 
cullis from our homes, the walls from our cities, the for- 
tresses from our state lines ? It is public sentiment, creat- 
ing and supporting law. As it is possible for individuals 
and states thus to be constrained from maltreating their 
fellow-citizens by a law and a strong police, so it is possible 
for a whole nation, wild with excitement and rage, to be 
curbed, held in check, by an international law and an 
international police. Enthusiasm for a church united 
almost the entire world in the Holy Roman Empire, en- 
thusiasm for a hero placed Europe at Napoleon's feet, 
enthusiasm for peace can organize the world. Thought- 
ful observers have seen the vision; the prophets have 
spoken; the disciples have been persecuted; and now 
their hopes for peace are beginning to be realized. We 
have seen the Magna Charta of a great federation: it is 
the treaty of The Hague. The efforts of wise rulers have 
made The Hague tribunal popular; the concerted efforts 
of the nations will make it powerful. The day is near 
when romance will be laid aside, when the wars of the past 
will be read of with languid interest, and there will be 
no thought of imminent peril. Then the coming genera- 
tions will see that peace is grander than war; that to live 



54 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

for a worthy object is more glorious than to die; that na- 
ture and humane courage are more poetic than flowing 
blood and frenzied patriotism. 

How can you and I wait for the slow processes of grind- 
ing logic ? Public opinion has enacted a law against mur- 
der; why should not international public opinion demand 
a law against war, which is organized murder ? Let prej- 
udice live her little hour. We must expect that the 
abolition of war will be resisted like that of dogmatism, of 
favoritism, of slavery. War is a crime of high treason 
against humanity. It is the trade of barbarians. It 
stands for illegitimate ambition, debauched conscience, 
treacherous craft, and national tragedy. War — a word 
too dreadful to be compared, which introduces no 
picture but that of deprivation and wretchedness for men, 
of weeping and heartache for women; a word which has 
haunted man for countless ages; a word which stands a 
blot on every page and on almost every line of history; 
synonym for crushed hope, insatiate cruelty, the very 
climax of anguish — a living hell ! 

Is it not practical to think peace, to hope for peace, to 
believe in peace ; to value it as we value our independence, 
our personal sovereignty, and to make it practical as we 
have made these practical; to value it as we value our 
liberty of thinking, of writing, of speaking, of voting ? 
Peace shows a picture of green fields and golden harvests, 
of populous cities with their throbbing engines and their 
whirring factory wheels; of restful churches, magnificent 
libraries, and stately college halls. Peace invents, dis- 
covers, and unlocks mystery; it effects treaties, observes 
contracts, and enacts codes of law. Peace conducts re- 
search, writes books, and enriches life's philosophy; it 
models statues, creates music and poetry, and perfects 
all art. Peace stands for what is most ideal on earth and 
for all our ambitions for eternity. 



WAR AND PUBLIC OPINION 55 

Justice and reason are beginning to triumph. Great 
geniuses are mustering the soldier-citizens of the world 
for a peaceful conquest. They are armed with the great 
deeds and experiences of the past. Their plan of cam- 
paign is marvellous. The battles are to be fought in 
patient laboratories, in legislative halls, in courts of justice, 
and on the great battle-field of productive labor. Their 
terms of peace will be the unconditional surrender of bar- 
barism and the abolition of poverty. They have a 
courageous spirit — it is for mankind. They have a 
devoted patriotism — it is for humanity. I can hear 
the nearing tread of their marching deeds — deeds upon 
which odes will be composed and ballads sung. 

" There's a midnight blackness changing into gray, 
Men of thought and men of action, clear the way ! " 



INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION 
Frank A. Fatjlkinberry 

UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH (SEWANEE) 

(An oration delivered in the Southern Intercollegiate Oratorical Contest 

of 1909) 

There was once a time in the history of the world when 
there was no law, when brute force was the ruling power 
and the minority had no rights. That time has passed and 
gone, and to-day we look back from our pinnacle of civili- 
zation, with surprise and horror, to find that such sav- 
agery was ever the ruling power. But out of this chaos 
government developed, laws were made, and men were 
forced by society to obey them. Yet with all this devel- 
opment disputes were settled by cutting men's throats. 
As nations began to acquire new territories and their 
interests began to conflict, the same remedy was used by 
nations to settle disputes as was used by the individual, 
the stronger becoming the master. With the invention 
of explosives, the development and perfection of firearms, 
war became the scourge of all nations; and how to settle 
disputes without war has become a question of interna- 
tional importance. The first remedy for this great plague 
was suggested by Emeric Cruce, a Frenchman, over a 
hundred years ago, a thing then looked upon as a visionary 
dream, but which became a reality in the Peace Confer- 
ence of 1899. 

We can almost remember when the anti-slavery move- 
ment began. The whole South was a unit in favor of 
the institution of slavery and very few men in the North 

56 



INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION 57 

dared to utter a word against it. What a contrast to- 
day, — not a slave in the civilized world, and slavery has 
hardly a defender ! 

Railroads were once unknown, but now the steel bands 
cover the entire world. There were once no ocean steam- 
ships; the Atlantic cable was once met by derision. 
Steam, electricity, and the press have put the whole world 
in touch, and to-day New York and Hong-Kong are as 
close together as New York and Philadelphia were a 
hundred years ago. Now since all this has happened 
in the face of extreme difficulty and been accepted by 
all men, there can be no wonder that the society of the 
civilized world is demanding that international disputes 
be settled by other methods than by war. It is the most 
futile of all remedies. It only embitters the contestants 
and sows seeds for future struggles. For example, in the 
late Russian-Japanese war neither nation gained what it 
fought for and both were disappointed with the terms 
of peace. 

Think of our great Civil War, where the flower of man- 
hood in America was swept, by the hot wave of public 
opinion, into destruction; of Sherman's devastating 
march to the sea, of Pickett's charge at the battle of 
Gettysburg where his brave band of Confederates swept 
the plain up to the cannon's mouth and melted away; 
of the beautiful Southland, where there was everything 
the heart could desire, destroyed by the cruel hand of war; 
finally, of the old tattered and worn Confederate soldier 
returning to his home, seeing everything in ruin, bowing 
his head in submission to his fate, and asking himself 
why the question of slavery could not have been settled 
by some other way than by destroying his home, killing 
his neighbor, and leaving everything in ruin. Think of 
the ambition of Napoleon and of its blight to Europe, of 
his great march to Moscow and the thousands of men 



58 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

dying on those dreary plains mocking the world and 
pleading for a different fate for future generations. Think 
of all the great wars the world has known, of the blood- 
shed and horror they have caused, and can we in the face 
of all this destruction not be in favor of some system of 
international conciliation ? 

If all the questions causing wars could have been 
settled by arbitration, what could not the world do with 
those heroes who have fallen on the battle-field, had their 
true hearts been turned towards uplifting instead of de- 
stroying mankind; what the world needs is not dead 
heroes, but men who can think and do something for 
themselves and others. 

The solution of this problem is to-day the main ques- 
tion before the world, and in our onward march to the 
reign of peace, we have at least been drawing some of 
the poisonous fangs of the monster, war, if we have not 
been striking at its heart. To-day in war time, non-com- 
batants are spared, women and children are not massacred, 
prisoners are well cared for, quarter is given, and the 
assassination of generals by private bargain is an infamy 
of the past. 

The Czar of Russia, seeing the need of breaking up the 
old military regime and establishing a new one, called the 
first Hague Conference in 1899 for discussing the means 
of establishing a world court where all nations could bring 
their disputes and receive justice. This conference was 
not the work of one man, but there had been a world-wide 
agitation of the question, demanding a head under which 
work could be begun; and it would have been a success 
had there been no other result than that each nation 
learned the other's wants and needs. In that meeting 
there were no galleries, no reporters, no appeals to passion, 
and rarely any applause. But there was a general feeling 
that anything except earnest and careful discussion of the 



INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION 59 

question involved was utterly out of place. Not a harsh 
word was spoken. In fact it was a meeting of men who 
had given long and earnest thought to the subjects in- 
volved, who realized the vast importance of them and 
felt that their personal honor was at stake in arriving at 
the best solution possible. And, after two months, dis- 
cussion, each man departed with a stronger belief in his 
kinship of man. Its reforms were so sweeping that it 
aroused the enthusiasm of the world assembly, and every 
one of the twenty-six nations represented ratified the 
resolutions, for no nation could be left out of this great work 
without bringing upon it the adverse public opinion of 
the whole world. This conference is destined to be for- 
ever memorable for the realization of Cruce's idea, and 
for giving to the world its first International Court. The 
last century marks the time when humanity took one of 
its longest strides upward and onward. This conference 
was only a starting point in this great movement, and 
to-day conferences are held in every nation preparing 
questions to be presented at the Hague; and our nation, 
which we are proud to say takes the front in everything, 
leads them all, and has five or six yearly conferences that 
point to the Hague as the redeemer of humanity; and 
with all these influences being brought to bear on this 
subject public opinion cannot but grow in favor of it, 
and when there is a national sentiment developed there 
can be nothing but peace. Every class of men is repre- 
sented in these meetings and all with the good of humanity 
upmost in their minds; these conferences cannot be held 
without results. Public opinion became so strong against 
war, and not being satisfied with the first Hague Confer- 
ence demanded that another be held. 

The second Hague Conference was called in the spring of 
1907, and every nation of importance was represented. 
Delegates who were recently arrayed against each other on 



60 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

the battle-field, with opinions diametrically opposed, were 
all occupied in considering the one great question, in- 
ternational peace. The most delicate of international 
questions were discussed with vivacity for more than 
four months without a rupture of personal or national 
amity. The questions determined beyond dispute by 
this conference were: that peace is the normal and war 
the abnormal condition of civilized nations; that the 
relations of sovereign states are properly based upon 
principles of justice and not upon force; that really sov- 
ereign states should have equal rights before the bar of 
international justice regardless of their size or military 
strength; that disputes between nations should be, as far 
as possible, settled by judicial methods, and not by war; 
that war, if inevitable, is an evil whose disastrous conse- 
quences should, by special agreement, be reduced to 
a minimum; and finally, that one nation can refer the 
disputes to the Hague, and can we believe that any nation 
could refuse without bringing upon it public censure ? Do 
not these provisions in the interest of humanity show a 
wider and deeper feeling for the brotherhood of man, and 
the great force of public sentiment behind this move- 
ment? 

All this is conclusive proof that the movement has not 
in any sense grown weaker, but is strong with that 
strength which comes from signal victories already won, 
and the prospects of greater ones in the future; and 
the general demand of the enlightened public opinion of 
the world is the supreme guarantee that the course of 
arbitration is to be in no sense backward, but upward and 
onward to complete victory. After four months of ex- 
cessive, often intense, and ungrateful labor, glad to be 
free again, to see their country and their homes, they 
separated, deeply affected by the fact that they were 
leaving a field of new action in which the seeds had been 



INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION 61 

well sown. The seed, it is true, was then underground, 
not rotting, but has grown and is now bearing fruit. Had 
we listened to the people of California and the horror of 
the " yellow plague/' we would to-day be engaged in war 
with Japan, but thanks to the wisdom and foresight of 
our Secretary of War, Mr. Root, the question was settled 
not by cutting the little " Japs' " throats, but by negotia- 
tion. We call George Washington the Father of his 
country; why do we not call Elihu Root the defender of 
his country ? The former was a man whom the whole 
country loves and reveres, and whom every child has 
been taught to reverence because he led our struggling 
nation to victory and freedom. We do not want to de- 
tract from his glory, but we do demand a greater glory 
for the man who is fighting on a battle-field where there 
is no boom of cannon and roll of musketry to urge him on, 
but only the good of humanity and the brotherhood of 
man, with millions not knowing his work; and yet Mr. 
Root has done more than any other man for the concilia- 
tion of the United States with her adversaries, saving 
millions of lives and resources of untold wealth, not with 
his sword but with his pen. Let us hope that future 
generations will give him his place among the other great 
heroes of history. And when his ideal has been realized 
and international peace reigns supreme, the vision of the 
old Hebrew prophet will be fulfilled indeed, and " swords 
shall be beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning- 
hooks, and nation shall not lift up sword against nation, 
neither shall they learn war any more." 



AN APPEAL FOR DRAMATIC ART 
Leonard G. Nattkemper 

DE PAUW UNIVERSITY 

(Awarded first place in the Contest of the Central Oratorical League, 

1909) 

The progress of the American people during the past 
century is a marvel to the civilized world. Never before 
has a nation made such advancement in one hundred 
years. From thirteen small states, with a population of 
less than four million, living, many of them, in huts scat- 
tered along the Atlantic coast, we have become a great 
commonwealth of forty-six states with eighty million 
people. We have spanned the rivers, climbed the hills, 
and filled the valleys and plains with cities and villages. 
In the congress of nations we are distinctly a world-power. 
From struggling wood-cutters and farmers, we have be- 
come the greatest producing people in the world. 

But the past three decades reveal dangerous tendencies 
■ — tendencies which, if not averted, will involve us in 
immeasurable embarrassment, for standing on the thresh- 
old of the twentieth century, and looking back over the 
last thirty years, we discover that the American people 
have grown materialistic. We have become a race of 
realists. The nineteenth century has seen the greatest 
material prosperity known in history; and as a result 
there is to-day no strife more impassioned than that of 
money-making. We have lost the ideal in the search for 
the real. History teaches us that great nations must 
ever be seekers of the ideal. Rome at one time was the 

62 



AN APPEAL FOR DRAMATIC ART 63 

master-power of all the nations. So great was she that 
every nation in Europe owed something to her. Yet all 
of Rome's power, all of Rome's grandeur, crumbled and 
decayed. Fowls of the air nocked into Italy to feast upon 
the flesh of kings and generals, of bishops and nobles — 
all humanity sunk into quagmire of disease and death. 
Men, women, and children, in their mad rush for wealth 
and amusement, plunged the Empire of the Caesars into 
blackest hell. The perils which once Rome faced now 
menace us. We have forgotten the truth, that the "life 
and character of a nation do not depend upon the abun- 
dance of its revenues, the strength of its fortifications; 
the size of its army, the beauty of its buildings; but on 
the number of its cultivated citizens, its men of education, 
enlightenment, and character." 

What, then, is the present duty of the American people? 
Is it not to offset these materialistic tendencies by foster- 
ing in all ways possible a love for the ideal among the 
masses ? Must not the spirit of commercialism give way 
to a love of the ideal in statesmanship, in business, and in 
the church ? Is it not true that only through the worship 
of high ideals we may ourselves become idealists ? Can- 
not the ideal be found through the medium of art ? Must 
we not make art popular ? By it can we not lift the crowd 
to noble and lofty standards of living ? Should not the 
man of the street feel that music is for him as well as for 
his more fortunate brother living in a palace ? Remember 
the power of painting in the past to create love for the 
beautiful. In the fifteenth century, when Cimabue, the 
great Florentine, completed his Madonna, it was an event 
that concerned nations. Shops were closed, farmers left 
their ploughs — even soldiers were released to see this great 
work of art. So to-day America should make the painter's 
art and the poet's art popular. The masses should love 
to join with Scott in the chase with the hound and the 



64 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

music of the bugle horn; to mourn with Shelley the death 
of Adonais; to follow the plough with Robert Burns; and 
to laugh and cry with Dickens. The men who toil in 
the shops and the mines feel that there is not an hour in 
life, be it an hour of temptation, an hour of defeat, or an 
hour of victory, but that a master mind has told in song 
or story how another, with like nature, passed through the 
selfsame experience, and left for us lessons of rebuke or 
encouragement. We practical, busy Americans should 
stop long enough in our rush for power and wealth to 
realize that art has an all-important place in the advance 
of civilization. He was no mere dreamer who said, 
"Art is the golden harp on which the angels play the 
march of human progress." 

As an American people, do we not believe in progress ? 
and do we not realize that to secure the best advancement 
we must understand the specific value of our institutions ? 
What are the great sources of power in our social life ? 
The press, the school, the court, the pulpit — should not 
these be studied as institutions upon which the life and 
perpetuity of the nation depend? But does not a study 
of present conditions reveal the fact that these institu- 
tions are not meeting the full need of Americans? We 
believe that the spiritual nature of the masses should be 
touched by the arts, — music, painting, sculpture, and litera- 
ture. Now, since it is hardly possible for every individual 
to study art in its separate forms, it is very evident these 
particular forms are not best adapted to the needs of the 
common people. Surely, then, the institution which 
blends into use all these arts as a civilizing power is the 
most necessary institution to any nation. The question 
then is : Have the American people such an institution ? 
They have, in the wise and well-guarded employment of 
the various forms of dramatic art. 

Dramatic art has been and will continue to be a direct 



AN APPEAL FOR DRAMATIC ART 65 

force among men, but for years many have undervalued 
its subtle influence as a civilizing power. Especially is 
this true in America, but it was not so among the Greeks 
and Romans. These people understood the potential 
influence of the acted drama. In ancient Athens plays 
were a religious observance, and in mediaeval England 
actors were looked upon as instructors in faith and moral- 
ity. Even to-day the most progressive nations recognize 
the power of dramatic art for good, and instead of con- 
demning it, they support it. 

As one of the better-known phases of the art of the 
drama, let us consider the stage. It is well adapted to 
serve the age, because it reaches so many people. There 
are five times as many people in the theatre during the 
week as there are in all the churches, and for this reason 
the theatre may be made the university of the common 
people, the temple of art where all classes are inspired to 
higher and nobler living. When it affords such unusual 
opportunities to mould the lives of the crowd, it is aston- 
ishing that so few men of distinction use their power and 
influence to honor the dignity of the stage. Since the 
dramatic instinct is inherent in us all, there always will 
be a call from the world for dramatic art. The admira- 
tion for the play is universal, from the ragged urchin to 
the greatest minds of men. The passion for the drama 
has its seat in human nature. Long ago the church ad- 
mitted this in its relation to miracle plays. It was through 
these plays acted in the church that the received doctrines 
were commended to the uneducated class. The theatre 
was the greatest humanizing force of ancient times, but 
in this country it has been repeatedly condemned as the 
tabernacle of moral rot. The doors have been closed upon 
the only institution where the great rules of life and con- 
duct are revealed through the arts. The theatre has been 
ignored and left in the hands of unbelievers. 



66 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

Where is the spirit life of the youth and the mother, of 
the rich and the poor, of the educated and the uneducated, 
moved more deeply than at the play ? Where are they 
stirred to greater depths ? Where are life's problems pre- 
sented more vividly, the joys and ambitions, the struggles 
and sorrows ? Where do we find a better vantage ground 
from which to study life ? Life in its sordid bitterness, its 
harsh, bleeding, ragged aspects, as well as life in the glow- 
ing splendor of the noble and the good ? Dramatic art 
has a positive influence upon the whole people because it 
appeals to the greatest motive power of man — his emo- 
tions. Because of all arts the dramatic speaks more 
keenly to his heart and mind. No other art borrows so 
much aid from the poet, the sculptor, and the musician; 
and therefore no art is better able to acquaint and stimu- 
late interest in men for knowledge of history and the grand 
creations of literature. The educational value of the 
drama is apparent to all thoughtful people. Especially 
is this true when we take as examples the great master- 
pieces of Shakespeare; but even plays of to-day, illuminat- 
ing our great social and economic problems, are efficient 
allies for peaceful progress. 

The time has come in this age of science and invention 
wherein there is a continual rush for wealth, and a con- 
sequent neglect of brotherhood among men, that dramatic 
art must be made one of the influences working toward 
the regeneration of humanity. You admit that this pur- 
pose of the theatre is a beautiful ideal, but you say also 
that in reality the stage and players are corrupt and 
corrupting — that the theatre is demoralizing and a 
curse to humanity. Let us remember, again, that man's 
love for the dramatic is inborn. Watch children at play, 
and you see that their first conscious effort is to imitate 
and to act. It is instinct, and you cannot repress it. If 
this be true, reason says: cultivate the instinct, turn it 



AN APPEAL FOR DRAMATIC ART 67 

to good and noble purposes. The theatre can never be 
destroyed, and therefore men must not ignore it but up- 
lift it. Shall the stage adorned by Shakespeare, Milton, 
Addison, Browning, and Tennyson be overpowered by 
the narrow-minded and fanatic — be they ministers in 
the pulpit, doctors in the universities, orators on the plat- 
form ? Discredit and cripple it they may — destroy it 
they cannot; for the actor's art will only perish when 

" The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
The solemn temples — the great globe itself, 
Yea, all which it inherits shall dissolve, 
And like a baseless fabric of a vision, 
Leave not a wreck behind ! " 

Why, then, should we be antagonistic to the art for 
which I plead ? Does it fall short of the ideal any more 
than the other arts or other means in educating the masses ? 
Why condemn the theatre because it is not what it ought 
to be ? Neither is the press, the school, the pulpit what 
it should be, yet you would not destroy them. The actors 
are overcoming greatly the rebuke and reproach under 
which they formerly labored. To the select, exalted, and 
immortal company of Dickens, Macaulay, David Living- 
stone, Gladstone, the younger Pitt, Chaucer, of Tennyson 
and Browning, was Sir Henry Irving recently admitted. 
In many places the stage is now recognized as an institu- 
tion of peculiar force in modern American life. In the 
metropolis of the West there has been erected a church- 
theatre designed to be a leader and an example in the 
American theatrical world, and an incentive to other 
religious organizations to help bring the church and stage 
into closer bonds of sympathy. Our great universities 
are opening their doors to good players, inviting them to 
unfold the beauties of Moliere, Browning, and Rostend. 
In the metropolis of the East, a national theatre is being 



68 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

built, which is destined to become a powerful educational 
influence. 

Is it not our duty, then, to make dramatic art, in what- 
ever way employed, to serve mankind, instead of by in- 
difference or active enmity permitting it to become a 
corrupting influence ? Since the dramatic instinct is deep- 
rooted in the nature of men and demands what the drama 
and the stage can give; and since our twentieth-century 
materialists need the influence of an art they can under- 
stand, is it not certainly the duty of all lovers of their 
fellow-men to build up rather than pull down an edifice 
capable of serving the highest forms of art, of adding to 
the innocent gayety of nations, and of contributing in 
almost countless ways to the moral welfare of mankind ? 



A PLEA FOR AMERICAN DRAMA 
Roscoe C. Edlund 

CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

(Awarded first place in the Senior Contest for the Woodford Prize in 
Oratory, 1909) 

The reign of Elizabeth has been the golden age of Eng- 
lish drama. It is a familiar story how England thrilled 
in every nerve with splendid awakening. From Europe 
came the new learning; from America and the Orient 
riches untold and stirring tales that fired the imagination. 
On every sea floated the English flag. At home was pros- 
perity; abroad, triumph. England, in Milton's words, 
was a " noble and puissant nation rousing herself like a 
strong man after sleep and shaking her invincible locks — 
as an eagle mewing her mighty youth and kindling her 
undazzled eyes at the full midday beam." 

And the triumph of the age was its theatre. The 
magic pens of Marlowe, Beaumont, Webster, Fletcher, 
mirrored forth in splendid poetry and drama the versatile, 
stirring life of the day. Never since has the world seen 
so brilliant a coterie; Shakespeare, its supreme genius, is 
the undisputed master of modern drama, and the greatest 
glory of his race. 

The theatres of the day, with great plays and fine acting, 
appealed strongly to a wide public. Here was the promise, 
which, alas, has never been fulfilled, of magnificent future 
and worthy influence for the English stage. With so aus- 
picious a beginning, why is it that we Anglo-Saxons, who 
were the first of modern races to produce great drama, 

69 



70 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

alone of modern races, as one critic puts it, have " failed 
to foster the drama as a means of uplifting the people 
and providing them with wholesome enjoyment? " 

The answer is not far to seek. We owe much to our 
Puritan ancestors; but they were a stern, uncompromising 
race. Beauty was to them a delusion, its manifestations 
in art an abomination. To feel the joy of life was dan- 
gerous, to indulge it a sin; so they shattered stained- 
glass windows, wrecked cathedral organs, destroyed 
paintings, and tore down theatres. Under the common- 
wealth, dramatic performances were prohibited. Any one 
caught witnessing a play was fined, the actors whipped. 
Later came reaction, and theatres opened again; but 
after the long period of restraint, the Restoration Comedy 
went to the lowest depths of immorality and flagrant 
indecency. Then the Puritan made a second mistake. 
Instead of using his influence to better the stage, he re- 
fused to have anything whatever to do with the theatre. 
He stayed away altogether, and, unhappily, has been 
staying away ever since. He handed over to worldlings 
the entire control of an instrument which he might have 
made a tremendous power for righteousness. The result 
is obvious: in England and America we have compara- 
tively little regard for the drama as a worthy and noble 
art; it has become, and, for the most part, remains, a 
mere entertainment, often frivolous, sometimes worse. 

Yet we possess the elements of better things. The 
moral awakening which has swept the country in politics 
and business has not failed to leave its impress on the 
drama. In England and America playwrights with talent 
and ideals are producing plays of merit and high promise. 
The time is at hand, say those who know the theatre best, 
for a renascence of Anglo-Saxon drama. 

But the public, and particularly the educated public, 
must realize its reponsibilities, or all will be of little avail. 



A PLEA FOR AMERICAN DRAMA 71 

We have long recognized the public duty of educated men 
in politics; we realize our duty toward our schools; we 
accept in part our responsibilities toward the arts of 
painting and sculpture and music by establishing galleries 
and museums and by endowing with generous subscrip- 
tions our halls of opera and our symphony orchestras; 
but have we realized, or do we realize to-day, that one of 
the noblest of the arts, the drama, requires our assistance, 
our money, our influence, our serious thought and best 
effort for its proper development, and that such develop- 
ment is eminently worth while ? Let us cease to think 
of the stage as simply a means of amusement, never to 
be taken at all seriously. Let us recognize in the acted 
drama one of the noblest and most inspiring of the arts, 
and, whether we will or no, a powerful civic and educa- 
tional force. Let us use our utmost endeavor to make the 
American stage a glory to the nation, and a strong influence 
for all that is noble, pure, and good. 

The first necessity is the development of a better public 
taste in things dramatic. In this field there is much that 
our colleges and universities may do. And, to their 
credit, our colleges have become fully alive to the needs of 
the situation. We have long had courses in the study 
of our greatest dramas as poetry and literature, but within 
the last five or ten years we have come to study the drama 
as in and of itself one of the highest forms of art. Har- 
vard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, and other American col- 
leges have begun recently to offer courses in modern 
plays, in the principles of dramatic construction, in dra- 
matic writing and criticism. Surely the college man, if 
any one, should know what constitutes good drama! And 
the place to learn is in college. This new interest in the 
drama on the part of our colleges is but one sign of the 
renascence of our drama, but it is a sign full of promise 
for the future. May each year see the college playing a 



72 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

larger part in the great campaign of education, that at 
last is under way to overcome the tradition of Puritanism 
against the stage, to compel the due recognition of the 
theatre as a strong social force, to train and develop 
public taste, and to place the American drama perma- 
nently upon the basis of a worthy and noble art. 

That the drama is so regarded in many European coun- 
tries is evident at a glance. France has its House of 
Moliere and the Odeon, endowed national institutions 
of greatest influence. In Germany, Austria, Norway, 
Sweden, the public cherishes and supports the best in 
dramatic art. Each of these countries has her endowed 
national theatre. The importance of such a system can 
scarcely be exaggerated. Where it exists are flourishing 
and worthy schools of drama, as in France and Germany; 
where it does not exist the drama is a reproach rather than 
a glory, as in Spain, England, America. For it is a ques- 
tion of organized influence toward best dramatic art, as 
opposed to disorganized, chaotic conditions, wherein 
commercialism, sensationalism, immorality, bad art, and 
the other evils of our present stage may too easily gain 
the upper hand. 

What Matthew Arnold wrote for Englishmen three 
decades ago we may well take to our hearts to-day. "We 
have everything to make us dissatisfied,' ' he said, "with 
the chaotic and ineffective condition into which our 
theatre has fallen. We have the remembrance of better 
things in the past, and the elements of better things for 
the future. But we have been unlucky in the work of 
organization. It seems to me that every one of us is 
concerned to find a remedy for this state of things. The 
people will have the theatre; make it a good one! The 
theatre is irresistible; organize the theatre!" 

Shall not this republic have her endowed national and 
local theatres, great democratic institutions supported 



A PLEA FOR AMERICAN DRAMA 73 

by an enthusiastic public, to conserve the best traditions 
of the English-speaking stage, to present to the American 
public the best plays of past and present, and to develop 
what we have never yet had, and which is a matter of no 
small import, an American school of acting and play 
writing ? 

In New York City next fall opens just such an institu- 
tion — The New Theatre. It is to be the finest and most 
imposing playhouse in the English-speaking world. It is 
financed by a group of wealthy and public-spirited men, 
as in the case of our opera, whose purpose is to give to 
the American people a theatre that shall be worthy of 
them, as the Theatre Francais is worthy of the people of 
France. What will the people say ? Surely this is a 
noble project, and most fully deserves, what it needs for 
success, the hearty, sincere support of the American public. 
Given that support, the New Theatre will do much for 
American drama. 

It is easy to find things for adverse criticism in the Amer- 
ican stage to-day. But everywhere are signs of magnifi- 
cent future. The dawn of a new day in American drama 
stands tiptoe on the hilltops. In the light of coming day 
much work remains for willing hearts, work for many 
strong men and true, men with brains, energy, ideals. 
Where will they find a nobler cause, more worthy of their 
best powers, possessed of deeper, more permanent signifi- 
cance ? 

Let us make our theatre worthy of our magnificent 
republic. In the words of Henry Arthur Jones, " Let 
us foster and honor this supreme art of Shakespeare, 
endow it in our cities, make it one of our chief councillors, 
set it on the summit of our national esteem. And it will 
draw upward all our national life and character, upward 
to higher and more worthy levels, to starry heights of 
wisdom, and beauty, and resolve, and aspiration. " 



BUILDERS OF EMPIRE 

Morris Gabriel Michaels 
amherst college 

(This oration was delivered at the Commencement Exercises of Amherst 
College, 1909.) 

"He made his way to empire over broken oaths and 
through a sea of blood." He wanted power, fame, and 
glory; and for that no path .was too hard, no deed too 
cruel. He shot down his fellow-citizens in the streets of 
Paris. With a grim smile an,d a heart closed to the suffer- 
ing about him he led his faithful army in the dead of 
winter over the snow-peaked Alps. At a nod of his head 
thousands of the world's bravest went forth to die. He 
saw Moscow in flames before him, but he would not stop. 
No sacrifice of human life was too great, no defeat too 
crushing, to quench his thirst for empire. Even the Old 
Guard was butchered that he might continue his bloody 
career. He would have built his empire over the graves 
of all Europe and rejoiced. But fate intervened and the 
great Napoleon found his empire, a lonely island, a vast 
expanse of sea, a death unwept of any man. He tried 
to build, but he did naught but destroy. Behind him were 
widows, orphans, tears, destitute homes. He never gave 
happiness to a human soul. He struck no blow for free- 
dom, won no victory for humanity, died for no righteous 
cause. In the words of Ingersoll: "I would rather have 
been a poor peasant and worn wooden shoes. I would 
rather have lived in a hut with a vine growing over the 
door and the grapes growing purple in the kisses of the 

74 



BUILDERS OF EMPIRE 75 

autumn sun. I would rather have been that man and 
gone down to the tongueless silence of the dreamless 
dust than to have been that imperial impersonation of 
force and murder." 

History presents another picture of an empire builder 
who also sent his thousands forth to die ; but his soul was 
wrung with anguish, his heart stirred to its depths by the 
sufferings and wrongs of his fellow-countrymen. Abra- 
ham Lincoln's love embraced a whole nation, and when 
alone his great heart wept for every soldier who died on a 
Southern battle-field; his sympathy went out to every home 
from which a loved one had gone forth forever. He found 
a great nation rent asunder by a great moral conflict. 
He sought to preserve, "to bind up that nation's wounds. " 
Like the other he left behind him widows, orphans, tears, 
destitute homes, but in each home there arose a prayer of 
gratitude that he had lived. He transformed three and a 
half millions of God's creatures from animals to men, and 
they worship him as their star of freedom. Over his 
grave warring brothers clasped hands and, inspired by the 
nobility of his example, resolved to build anew a more 
lasting empire where all men are born equal. 

The scenes have changed and the tread of legions, led 
by Napoleons or supported by the faith of a Lincoln, no 
longer shakes the ground; but empire building still goes 
on and we find the cruelty of a Napoleon in a captain of 
industry, the love and generosity of a Lincoln about the 
fireside of many a home. 

We think a great deal of men who build, of men who 
work, of men who do things in the world ; and we are too 
apt to think that fortune building is the only thing worth 
while. We turn to our mines, our factories, our great 
industrial enterprises, and we think with pride of the 
masterful men who build our commercial empires. They 
are builders, they are masterful. But, oh, the emptiness 



76 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

of it all. "They live upon a lonely island, a vast expanse 
of sea." Theirs will be a death as unwept as Napoleon's. 
They live their lives shut off from their fellow-men by a 
wall of selfishness through which no gateway lies open 
to love and generosity. They build their bridges, their 
railroads, their cities, but they forget the men who help 
them build. They are insensible to the sufferings about 
them, to the cries of an outraged humanity. They have 
built something that cannot withstand the tests of time 
nor the righteous judgments of God. 

One night, San Francisco stood majestic in the shadows 
of the Golden Gate, a worthy monument to the industry, 
energy, and perseverance of man, who had steadily fought 
his way westward until the sturdy Puritan and the rugged 
"Forty-niner" stood under the same flag. The next 
night and the so-called Queen of the Pacific, dethroned by 
earthquake and fire, had become a heap of ashes. But 
the real San Francisco was never destroyed. It lay en- 
throned in the stout hearts and sublime courage of her 
citizens, in whose veins ran the blood of the old pioneer 
who had made his way to empire over mountains and 
across streams, and received his faith outside the door of 
the big cabin as he listened to the voices of the stars and 
saw his God in the nature whose very spirit he breathed. 

And so the empire builders of to-day are to be pioneers, 
pioneers of truth and the high ideal of service. They will 
realize that in every man is a spark of the divine nature 
waiting only to be fanned into a great beacon light to guide 
others in the struggle for self-realization. Under their 
hand the slums will blossom into a garden, for they will 
plant seeds of hope and happiness where formerly all has 
been the desolation and blackness of despair. Comrades 
round about them, dazzled by the false glitter of wealth, 
will falter and fall; but undismayed they will achieve all 
that is grand and heroic in human life. The nation's 



BUILDERS OF EMPIRE 77 

industries will no longer mean wealth for the few and 
misery for the many, but from the field, the mine, and the 
workshop will be heard the hum of a happy and contented 
humanity. 

The great empires of to-day, then, rest not upon the 
material achievements of the men who betray trusts, 
destroy man's faith in man, and breed class hatred; but 
they rest upon the homes throughout the land where the 
principles of citizenship are learned at a mother's knee, 
where love and generosity are made the maxims of youth, 
and where the family life is a miniature of the possibilities 
for the broader life of the world. A poor Italian boy, 
stirred by a love for truth, went forth from a humble home, 
won by his sincerity the support of a king and queen, and 
ridiculed by friends, deserted by his comrades, revealed 
a new world. In a Kentucky log cabin was born one 
whose very name is uttered with reverence, whose every 
word is an inspiration, whose life was sacrificed on the 
altar of freedom. Throughout the country, from the 
bosom of the New England hills, from the lap of the sunny 
South, from the open arms of the great prairies of the 
West, the American homes are sending forth men who 
are determined to build their empires upon the rocks of 
truth and justice, against which the waves of greed and 
crime may beat in vain. 

When we see the sun set behind the mountains and 
darkness envelop the earth, we know that in truth it is 
still shining and that its eternal light rests upon the 
wisdom and love of God. And so when the clouds of 
selfishness and sin threaten to blot out the nation's sun, 
let us take courage in the certainty that the American 
home, the empire builder, will triumph. 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE: THE SAVIOUR OF 
FRANCE 

Lester Disney 

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 

(An oration prepared in connection with class work at the University of 
Arizona, 1909) 

In the year 1795 France emerged from the throes of 
the most terrible internal revolution the world had known ; 
from a clash between the rich and the poor, between the 
nobles and the commons, between the spendthrifts and 
the breadwinners, between a profligate aristocracy more 
than Antonian in its depravity and a populace driven to 
savagery by insult, oppression, and starvation, — the long 
delayed but inevitable combat of the ancient feudal sys- 
tem and the divine infallibility of kings, against the in- 
herent ideas of liberty and freedom, as realized by the new 
American republic. 

Louis XIV, recognizing the folly perpetrated in his 
reign, and realizing, for once, the unstable condition of 
his kingdom, that the nobility revelled in riotous luxury 
in their palaces, while the masses starved by the wayside, 
had exclaimed, " After us the deluge." His prediction 
had been fulfilled. After them the deluge indeed did come. 
An intense patriotism gave way to an insane anarchy. 
The popular mind was inflamed by the conspiracies of 
unprincipled demagogues, and the disordered rabble 
swayed from one extreme to another. Order was changed 
to chaos; sacred customs to ribaldry; Christianity to 

78 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 79 

atheism; oppression to demolition; servility to fanati- 
cism. Their God was reason; their criterion of justice 
was death; their revenge, extinction; their avenger, 
the guillotine. 

Men were mad. France was mad. The thoroughfares 
of Paris reechoed with the demoniacal curses and con- 
fused tramp of human fiends, crying for vengeance, on 
their way to scenes of cruelty and slaughter. Their 
appetites whetted by the blood of the nobility, they 
turned like wolves upon each other. In one day the 
Seine received seven thousand, victims of the knife, 
and time alone served to abate the fearful carnage. 

The Reign of Terror over, France lay exhausted, wait- 
ing for some strong arm to deliver her from her dissensions. 
A Herculean task it was ! — the reorganization of a shat- 
tered monarchy; the taming of rampant passions in 
twenty-three million souls; the bringing order out of 
confusion, and maintenance of the integrity and prestige 
of the nation. 

And out of this pandemonium of human strife, this 
babel of human passion, stepped a dark-browed Corsi- 
can, eager to assume the responsibility of the affairs of 
state, and anxious to assuage the sufferings of his country. 

His mind was grand, gloomy, unfathomable; his man- 
ner, brusque and taciturn; his methods, original and 
startling. His personality was that of a giant among men, 
capable of inspiring in others an undying faith in his titanic 
ability. With the aid of auspicious circumstances, his 
master intellect shaped effects which made his name 
honored, respected, and feared throughout the civilized 
world. His confidence in his own infallibility kindled in 
his subjects as well as his soldiers an undying enthusiasm 
that was not extinguished even at Waterloo ; it produced 
in his enemies that awestricken dread and open-mouthed 
wonder that was the secret of all attempts to subdue him. 



80 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

The Austrian sentinel, pacing his beat on the banks of the 
Danube, and anticipating a possible conflict, felt his 
heart sink with dread as he thought of the name " Napo- 
leon"; not even the first deposition and incarceration 
on Elba diminished the ardor of the commons; headed 
by his subdued but still faithful marshals, they hailed his 
advent back to France with a tumultuous ovation such as 
only he could incite; 'twas in a spirit of wonderful emula- 
tion that the Old Guard died but never surrendered, and 
it was with the same spirit that they fought for fifteen 
long years the battles of their " Little Corporal." 

Such was the man who for twenty years held sway 
over the destiny of Europe, dictated to the proud monarchs 
of a continent, and instituted republicanism in lieu of 
despotism. He commanded the sun of French prosperity 
to stand still in the firmament of national pride, shedding 
its beneficent rays over a deserving people; he touched 
the dead corpse of French patriotism, and it sprang to its 
feet in the shape of an invincible army; he forged a thun- 
derbolt of human liberty and hurled it at the crowned 
heads of Europe. 

Lodi, Marengo, Austerlitz, and Friedland successively 
laid Italy, Holland, Austria, Germany, and Russia pros- 
trate at his feet, and raised Bonaparte and France to the 
highest pinnacle of military glory. 

Napoleon was now recognized as a creator of thrones, 
as an humbler of power. Kings trembled for their crowns 
at the mention of his name; dynasties crumbled at his 
touch; and aristocrats, hating and fearing his democratic 
ideas, felt a mighty horror of his caste-levelling methods. 
Hailed by his people as the deliverer of Europe, and re- 
garded by potentates as an omen of impending downfall, 
yet he towered above them all, and stood aloof alike from 
men and their measures. 

Austerlitz brought his sun to its zenith, his star to its 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 81 

height. The limit of national aggrandizement had been 
reached. All but the impossible had been accomplished. 
It was attempting the impracticable that brought Na- 
poleon to his fall. Gradually hemmed by bitter, uncom- 
promising foes, sworn to defend their ancient tyrannical 
pretensions against this so-called upstart and usurper, 
against a disciple of ideas more liberal than their own, he 
was one man against the intrigue of the world. 

As his day of success was declining, came Waterloo — 
humiliation to pride and to power, degradation to glory, 
defeat to invincibility, oblivion to renown. His army 
shattered, Paris besieged, resources exhausted, Napoleon 
saw that capitulation alone was feasible. Hoping for and 
expecting leniency, he surrendered, but his great heart 
misjudged the enemy with whom he had to deal. He was 
doomed to dreary exile. His captors, fearing his discon- 
tented mind and the possibilities of his presence in Europe, 
and wishing to free themselves from further anxiety con- 
cerning one whom they knew their superior, determined 
to isolate him from the world. So in military confinement 
on St. Helena he was destined to end in obscurity his 
career of forever ambitious enthusiasm. 

His name was sunk in the darkness of penal servitude, 
but the end was not yet. After five years of this caged, 
hopeless, maddening tedium, the curtain of eternal night 
closed over the drama of this life; and Death reigned su- 
preme over "The Conqueror of Nations." On the night 
of the 5th of May, 1821, a storm swept over the Atlantic. 
The raging waves rush in fierce confusion in a mad assault 
on the island stronghold. The Furies are abroad; the 
wild waste of tempestuous sea laps, and seethes, and tosses, 
and crashes, in its vain attempt to crush the moaning 
breakers to silence. The rolling, growling sky, insane in 
its commotion, howls ghoulish glee at the wrath of the 
storm. 



82 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

It is the despairing sorrow of the elements at the loss 
of the greatest earthly power. In the guard-house lies 
the Emperor, quiet now, though the turbulence without 
seems to call once more for his great command — power- 
less in the midst of strife, serene in confusion, stolid with 
a broken heart. Death hovers over the quaking isle. 
The soul of Napoleon is passing, in a tempest as vivid 
and startling to the Atlantic as his career had been to 
the world. 

Great, he was humbled; mighty, he was vanquished; 
human, he died. But who can say what France might be, 
what a brilliant record amaze the world, had this child of 
Mars lived on, had adverse fate not taken from this land 
her favorite Son, her Saviour, her Protector! 



THE SPIRIT OF LINCOLN — THE NEED OF 
OUR TIME 

William P. Kelts 

CARLETON COLLEGE 

(Awarded first place in the Minnesota State Contest of 1908, and second 
in the Interstate Contest held at Albion, Michigan, 1908) 

The gravest danger which threatens our nation to-day 
is the spirit which places the interests of individual or 
class above the common good. Witness the prevalent 
disregard for law, the greedy exploitations of powerful 
interests, the bitter industrial conflicts, the growing class 
antipathy. Well may we pause to consider where this 
spirit is leading us, and how we may check it ; for if history 
has one lesson it would teach it is that such selfishness is 
the greatest of all those disintegrating forces by which 
nations are destroyed; that, in some form, it has been the 
root of all great crises. 

We have felt the force and have tested the bitter fruits 
of this spirit in our national life. Scarcely fifty years ago 
it hurled the nation into sectional antagonism and civil 
war. The study of that crisis and the way in which it 
was met will give us practical guidance for present prob- 
lems. 

The sectional division which ended in the Civil War had 
its beginning in industrial differences. The people of the 
South were cotton growers and clamored for free trade. 
The North became a manufacturing section and demanded 
a protective tariff. Each failed to recognize the rights 
or to respect the interests of the other, and each gave 

83 



84 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

free vent to feelings of narrow sectionalism. The con- 
troversy over slavery intensified this feeling and carried 
it beyond the bounds of law and reason. The conflict 
was removed from the field of debate to the riot of the 
street. Even in Boston, a slave was forcibly taken from 
a United States marshal and set free. The heat and bit- 
terness of the time reached its greatest intensity in the 
struggle for Kansas. From Montgomery, Alabama, 
three hundred soldiers were sent to fight for the possession 
of the new/territory . They marched to the church, where the 
minister invoked the divine blessing upon them and gave a 
Bible to the commander. In both North and South sin- 
cere and noble men became the propagators of sectional 
hatred. Into the ears of Southern children were breathed 
the words "black abolitionist"; they were taught that he 
infringed upon Southern rights and instigated slave insur- 
rections. Northern children were taught to despise the 
Southern "fire-eater" and to associate him with the blood- 
hound and the auction block. The generation which 
fought the Civil War had breathed this atmosphere from 
childhood. Was it strange that conservative men became 
irrational ? Was it strange that love for the Union was 
overshadowed by factional strife ? Was it strange that 
this selfish spirit expressed itself in defamation, riot, and 
bloodshed ? 

But God never fails his people. From the wilderness 
of Kentucky there came forth to challenge this sectional 
spirit a true servant of humanity — Abraham Lincoln. 
Never had a man faced a more serious and perplexing 
situation. The leaders of both North and South were 
carried away by the sectional tide. Lincoln might easily 
have shared in the narrowness and bitterness of the time. 
He, too, had breathed this atmosphere from youth. The 
very kindness of his nature made him hate slavery. His 
political success was due largely to his anti-slavery 



THE SPIRIT OF LINCOLN 85 

utterances. But these times of self-seeking tumult only 
aroused his broad patriotism and love for his fellow-men. 
In him sectionalism met its conqueror. 

Lincoln's every act revealed broad national statesman- 
ship. He appointed a political opponent commander-in- 
chief of the army. He knew that Chase and Seward 
opposed his reelection, yet he retained them in his cabinet 
because the country needed their services. With a heart 
that throbbed with love for friend and enemy alike, for 
South even as for North, he endeavored to convince both 
that their interests were one, that the welfare and destiny 
of both were inseparably linked with the preservation of 
the Union. " Before entering upon so grave a matter," 
said he, "as the destruction of our national fabric with all 
of its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be 
wise for us to ascertain precisely why we doit?" "We 
are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. 
Though passion may have strained, it must not break 
our bonds of affection." While he thus sought concilia- 
tion, yet his sympathy and love of peace made him no 
weakling. He was devoted to righteous principle and 
was unflinching in its defence. He had the courage to use 
the sword, yet without malice. His rare combination of 
sympathy, of firmness in the right, and of devotion to 
country, this it was that rallied the people to his support. 
At times of deepest gloom, when the whole North was 
despondent and despairing, it was he who revived flagging 
hopes and spirits. When, at the close of the war, thoughts 
of retaliation were rife, and rancor and hatred swayed the 
actions of other men, Lincoln instituted a policy of for- 
giveness and reconciliation. "With malice toward none, 
with charity for all, let us strive ... to bind up the 
nation's wounds." 

A wounded Southern soldier, lying in a prison hospital 
at Washington, read Lincoln's Gettysburg address. He 



86 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

was so carried away by its spirit that he exclaimed; 
" Other men have spoken stirring words for the North 
and for the South, but never before with the love of both 
breathing through them. To feel that your enemies can 
fight you to the death without malice, with charity, lifts 
country, lifts humanity to something worth dying for. 
I would like to put my hand in Abraham Lincoln's." 

Lincoln gave his life in labor and sacrifice, not for one 
section, but for the nation. To serve that nation better 
he was willing to overlook the hatred of the South. Where 
in all history can we find a truer embodiment of the spirit 
so much needed to-day, the spirit which is the very life of 
liberty and free government, which is consecrated not 
alone to the interests of self, or home, or class, or state, or 
section, but to the great eternal interests of country and 
humanity ? 

The problems which we face and those which Lincoln 
faced have a common origin. Back of both lies a common 
spirit — a spirit which places individual and class interests 
above the common good. The tariff trouble which in 
1816 and 1827 divided our country into warring factions, 
was an industrial strife, in which each section sought only 
its own interests. The same spirit lay back of the slave 
controversy. The industrial conditions of the North op- 
posed slavery. The agricultural interests of the South 
depended upon slavery and its extension. The struggle 
ended in sectionalism and civil war. Our present situation 
differs in form, not in spirit. Divisions are no longer 
geographical and political, but industrial and social. It 
is no longer North against South, but class against class. 
Capital and labor are engaged in bitter strife, each 
intent upon its own interests. They have little regard 
for the sanctity of law or for the principles of democracy, 
but use the most effective weapons, even blackmail and 
mob violence, to gain their ends. Railroad combinations 



THE SPIRIT OF LINCOLN 87 

are trampling upon law and right. They spend millions 
to secure class legislation, and corrupt public officials to 
further their designs. Great corporations extend and 
multiply their interests over broken laws. They pay 
fabulous sums for the best talent of the land to contrive 
means, not of serving, but of exploiting the people. Poli- 
ticians stir up race hatred and party feeling that they 
may profit thereby. In our legislative halls are men who 
betray their country to serve a class. As in the days of 
sectionalism, the welfare of the nation and the interests of 
humanity are disregarded, nay, even wilfully misused in 
seeking selfish aims. 

And the breach widens. The result of this selfish 
spirit is a loss of sympathy which prevents one class from 
ever understanding the other's point of view. The North 
and the South became so blinded by their own interests 
that they were incapable of showing mutual sympathy 
or even of seeing the rights and the viewpoint of the other 
We face essentially the same conditions. This spirit is a 
wedge forcing apart the classes of society. The inequality 
between rich and poor, the bitterness between capital 
and labor, grows daily and widens the breach. 

Can we, dare we, be indifferent to these tendencies? 
We may not be plunged into civil war, but we may be so 
disintegrated that there shall remain within our nation 
no force strong enough to reunite us. We are living in a 
complex age. Men's interests are interlocked as never 
before, and men will either fall upon each other in selfish 
hatred or be drawn together in bonds of respect and 
sympathy. As we love our homes, as we love our country, 
"with all of its benefits, its memories, and its hopes," 
as we have regard for the larger interests of humanity, 
we must curb this selfish spirit. 

What shall the remedy be ? Shall it be mere external 
regulation ? Powerful commercial interests scoff at law; 



88 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

in spite of carefully planned regulations the strife between 
warring interests increases. We must strike at the root 
of the evil. We must exalt in our homes, we must im- 
plant in our youth, we must infuse into our industrial^ 
social, and civic life, the spirit of which Lincoln was 
the embodiment, a spirit sympathetic enough to make 
contending interests feel that they have a common meet- 
ing ground; a spirit broad enough and great enough to 
look beyond the narrow, transitory interests of self or 
class and embrace the large, abiding interests of the nation 
and humanity. 

But present conditions are not all evil. There is ground 
for faith that the people will meet and solve their prob- 
lems; that under Divine Providence this nation will 
endure. But it will endure, not because of passive opti- 
mism, but because that love of liberty which braved the 
hardships of Plymouth, and that devotion to country 
which endured the suffering of Valley Forge, united in 
the great spirit of Lincoln, still live and find expression. 
La Follette has won a hard-fought victory against railroad 
control. Folk has routed the oligarchy which made Mis- 
souri a cesspool of corruption. Heney has exposed and 
convicted in San Francisco men who bartered civic duty 
for private gain. These are but examples. Throughout 
the land a new leadership, strong and unselfish, is felt. 
Foremost among these reformers, a leader among leaders, 
is President Roosevelt. He is giving to our citizens a 
standard which appeals to them and moves them. Like 
Lincoln, these are men who stand for law and fairness. 
They place human life above gold, and country above 
individual or class. Already they have awakened our 
citizens to a new consciousness of power and civic respon- 
sibility. 

We have the right to expect much of the future, but we 
have no right to be passive optimists. The selfish spirit 



THE SPIRIT OF LINCOLN 89 

is not conquered. Philadelphia, so lately freed, is reen- 
tering corporate bondage. This broad movement tow- 
ard unselfish patriotism which is just in its beginning, 
and which promises so much, calls for the united and 
vigorous support of every citizen. Without that support 
it will come to naught. The time is critical. With men's 
interests interlocked as they are now, and in the dawn of this 
brighter day, let us unite to curb this selfish spirit. Let 
there come in its place a respect for the rights and interests 
of all. Let American citizens remember Lincoln's large- 
ness of heart and put aside their selfishness. Let com- 
mercial kings look upon his all-powerful poverty and see 
the insufficiency of their wealth. Let political bosses 
look upon Lincoln's public service and learn the littleness 
of their actions. Let conflicting interests feel his breadth 
and sympathy and forget their differences. Let classes 
look upon his democracy and forget their hatred. Let the 
whole nation throb with his spirit. Then selfishness 
will be dethroned, a nobler, national citizenship will rally 
to humanity's call, and this nation will have a new birth 
in freedom. 



ROBERT E. LEE 

Thomas W. Moreland 

UPPER IOWA UNIVERSITY 

(Awarded first place in the Contests for the Fuller and the Fawcett 
Prizes in Oratory, May and June, 1909) 

The war between the States marked the beginning of a 
new epoch in American history. The furling of the Gray 
colors at Appomattox proclaimed to the world the solidarity 
of the States as a nation. The Confederacy was doomed 
in its very cradle. North and South alike to-day concede 
the unwisdom of fighting for the freedom of a nation that 
should be dissoluble at will. A government thus estab- 
lished by unified effort could only thus be preserved. 

And yet, in writing her account of that struggle, History 
shall credit South and North alike with motives sincerely 
held and principles conscientiously adhered to. Only a 
few years ago an honored Vice-president of this republic, 
at the dedication of the national park at Chickamauga, 
said: "Here in the dread tribunal of last resort, valor 
contended against valor. Here brave men struggled and 
died for the right as God gave them to see the right." 
Time has done much to remove the hatred and bitterness 
engendered by that struggle. We must remember that 
only deep and fundamental motives could have inspired 
three million people to rise as one in rebellion and main- 
tain for four years their stand against the mother-govern- 
ment. 

The break between the States, long visible on consti- 
tutional grounds, was precipitated by the rise of the slavery 

90 



ROBERT E. LEE 91 

question. At the time of the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion every State in the Union was burdened with the 
weight of the slave labor system. The development of 
manufacturing rendered slavery unprofitable at the North, 
and she sold her slaves to the South, where conditions 
suited the maintenance of such unskilled labor. Thus 
the agricultural system of the South was developed, with 
the negro serf as its mainspring. The protest against 
this traffic in human flesh reached its culmination in the 
fierce attack of Garrison and his Abolitionist associates. 
The mutual failure to comprehend the logic of the opposi- 
tion can be readily understood. Birth and training had 
firmly implanted in the slaveholder the belief that the 
slave formed a fundamental part of his social system. 
Thrust upon them by the dead hand of the past, he knew 
no other means of control than repression. Besides, he 
was property, a chattel, and held under the law. The 
Abolitionist and moralist, oblivious to economic and 
financial considerations, saw only the misery and horror 
of such a business and resolved that it should be uprooted 
from the land. 

Inseparably interwoven with the history of this period 
are the life and deeds of that great Virginian — Robert 
E. Lee. The epitome of Southern chivalry, the destined 
military leader of the Confederacy, he was in an unusual 
sense the ideal of the South. The troubles of the time 
rested heavily upon his shoulders. Lee had clearly foreseen 
the crisis to which political extremists had brought the 
country. Not a politician, but a soldier, he had counselled 
and advised against an open rupture of the sections. 
The soldier realized the inevitable misery and ruin of 
such a fratricidal strife, for the Anglo-Saxon did not 
lightly yield up chosen principles, and both were scions 
of the old Anglo-Saxon family. His words reveal his 
boundless love for the old government: "I can anticipate 



92 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution of 
the Union — I hope that all constitutional means will be 
exhausted before there is a resort to force — Secession is 
nothing but revolution." 

Lee loved the Union and its hallowed memories with 
the ardent love of the patriot, for his own father and 
uncles had fought side by side with Washington in the 
struggle for Independence. He loved the Union with 
the passionate devotion of the soldier who had spent a 
quarter of a century of his life in its service, and who had 
endured hardships and shed his blood on Mexican soil 
in defence of its honor. In a burst of passion, he said 
that, "if he owned all the slaves in the South, he would 
gladly yield them up for the preservation of the Union." 

But the advice of the conservatives of Lee's stamp 
was unheeded. The politician, the extremist, had carried 
both sections past compromise, and the guns of Sumter 
proclaimed the dread news of Secession to the republic. 
Lee's family had been noted for its strong opposition to 
centralization of power in the federal government. Rich- 
ard Henry Lee, his uncle, had in 1788 stood in the fore- 
front of the opposition to the Constitution. He had 
passionately asserted that " it was dangerously oligarchic 
and detrimental to the liberties of the people." His 
father, "Light-Horse Harry," had joined in a memorial 
from the Virginia legislature protesting against proposed 
legislation by Congress, on the ground that it was encroach- 
ing upon the reserved rights of the people. Lee, too, 
believed firmly in the States-Rights doctrine. He be- 
lieved that the local rights of self-government of the 
Southern States had been invaded by the federal govern- 
ment. Yet, even on the secession of the Gulf States, he 
remained loyal to the old government. His allegiance 
belonged to Virginia, and Virginia's decision should be his. 
At last the fateful news of Virginia's secession arrived, 



ROBERT E. LEE 93 

and Lee heard her call. How poignant, how soul-racking 
those hours must have been when Lee decided to abandon 
the old Union he had so loved. The brave old leader 
heart-breakingly tells his sister "that he could not fight 
against his relatives, his children, his home." Fight 
against his people ? May the time never come when man 
shall be so insensible to the bonds and ties of love and 
affection that unite him to home and people. 

So it was that the son, true to the old mother, Virginia, 
returned to her in this hour of peril. As Lee sadly gazed 
from Arlington, his home across the placid waters of the 
Potomac, toward the great dome of the Capitol at Wash- 
ington in the distance, he knew that an armed conflict was 
now inevitable. With prophetic vision the old soldier 
must have seen the Potomac run blood and the smoke 
of devastation ascend to the sky. 

Lee's career as leader of the Confederacy is a part of 
our common history. Even though his cause failed, yet his 
claim to fame could be rested upon his achievements as 
a soldier. His conduct of the Southern armies is indeed 
a marvel of history. There is no more tragic scene in 
history than that of the surrender of the Army of Northern 
Virginia, for it portrays the tragedy of a whole people. 
Behind the defeated leader lay the hopes of nine millions 
of people, the smoking ruins of their homes, their fields 
devastated, their commerce ruined, their business para- 
lyzed. They were a people without political status, and 
the social fabric of their civilization had been rent in 
twain. Never was the majesty of the man more striking 
than when he affixed his name to the document of sur- 
render — the death-warrant of his hopes and of the 
Confederacy. His words of farewell to his faithful sol- 
diers on the field of Appomattox have become historic: 
"I have done for you all that it was in my power to do. 
You have done all your duty. Leave the result to God. 



94 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

Go to your homes, and resume your occupations. Obey 
the laws and become as good citizens as you were soldiers." 

The accomplishments of Lee the soldier are over- 
shadowed by the qualities of Lee the man. As a youth 
he took his negro coachman, a consumptive, to the moun- 
tains and there tenderly and lovingly cared for him until 
the end. He shared the hardships and privations of his 
soldiers. We may see him as he stops to offer sympathy 
to the wounded and to pray with the dying. This noble 
Christian man joined in the soldier's simple prayer ser- 
vice. At Gettysburg he generously took upon himself 
the responsibility for defeat. The knightly chivalry of 
his character is evinced when he returned the horse and 
sword of the Union General Kearney, killed in battle, 
to his widow "as a token of appreciation of a gallant 
soldier and gentleman," and then we may view him in the 
closing hours of the Confederacy, when he placed his 
people's welfare above his own personal feelings. This 
proud Southerner, in whose veins ran the blood of America's 
noblest families, hesitated not at the disgrace of surrender- 
ing to the " tanner of Illinois." He refused to disband 
his army for guerilla warfare, saying, "We do not make 
war upon women and children." 

We may follow him after the war as he uses his great 
influence to promote peace and calm disorder. No man 
contributed so strongly to reunite the sections as Lee. 
He was ever ready to follow duty's footsteps, whether they 
led to arms for the defence of state or to the restoration 
of order and confidence to a defeated people. We may 
continue with Lee through the dark days of Reconstruc- 
tion when he bore resignedly and patiently the opprobrium 
of treason and disfranchisement. Lee the general had 
been the idol of the army. Loved with a depth of devo- 
tion rarely accorded to commander, his own spirit had 
inspired charges and assaults equalled in bravery and 



ROBERT E. LEE 95 

daring only by Bonaparte and his Old Guard. His own 
heroic example had sustained the prolonged resistance 
and fortitude of his army. 

Now Lee the citizen put aside the glamour and blaze 
of war and humbly and earnestly, as college president, 
taught the young men of the South the need of new 
ideals of civic and moral righteousness. Contritely the 
old leader labored to atone for his part in the past struggle, 
and the fruits of his labors are being revealed even to-day. 
But his mighty spirit had been sorely tried by his heavy 
burden. The shoulders that were intended for only 
human burdens had borne for years a people's woes and 
sorrows, and on the morning of October 12, 1870, only 
five years after Appomattox, Robert E. Lee rested from 
his earthly toil. 

No granite monument or marble shaft commemorates 
Lee's achievements. No empire hails him as its deliverer; 
the cause for which he fought rests with him in the tomb. 
And yet as long as man shall heed duty's call; as long as 
conscience shall guide men onward through the crises 
and toils of human existence, will be preserved the name 
and memory of Robert E. Lee. 



STATESMAN AND NATION 

Chauncey Frederick Bell 
university of colorado 

(This oration was delivered at the Interstate Oratorical Contest held at 
Columbia, Missouri, May 6, 1897. It received first place in thought 
and composition.) 

The surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown was the end 
and the beginning of revolution. The close of the War 
for Independence, it precipitated that greater revolution 
of political thought and organization which the verdict of 
history has pronounced the critical period of our national 
existence. In this period of formative thought and new 
conception in government, was fought on a new continent 
the battle of the ages, that silent conflict of opposing ideas, 
which, embodied in the institutions of society, have been 
the basis of all absolutism and extreme democracy. In 
the apt equilibrium of these forces there was here first 
given to the world a satisfactory solution of the great 
problem of human federation. Union or Confederacy, 
the strength of cohesion or the weakness of centrifugal 
tendency, national sovereignty or the predominance of 
state particularism — these were the alternatives ; choice 
was more tremendously important to good government 
and human happiness than it is possible to comprehend. 

"The times that tried men's souls are over," wrote 
Thomas Paine, on hearing of the treaty of 1783. To the 
superficial observer this might indeed seem true. But 
the deep student of history took no such nattering view 
of the situation. The statesman, the philosopher whose 

96 



STATESMAN AND NATION 97 

analytic thought delved deep down into the intricacies of 
the social and political status, — the mind endowed with 
a prophetic grasp of the immediate and remote future, — 
saw no such happy ending of the thunders of war and the 
smokes of many battles. To such there were sable clouds 
of impending calamity hanging lower than during the 
fiercest moments of Bunker Hill or the soul-chilling dis- 
tress of Valley Forge. Then it was that Jay wrote to 
Washington, "I am uneasy and apprehensive, more so 
than during the war." Then every patriotic breast shook 
with anguish at the possible outcome of political dis- 
sension and disruption among the states. All eyes were 
anxiously riveted upon the " awful spectacle — a nation 
without a national government." Only recently was it 
rescued from the storms of revolution. Now again it 
was lurching in an angry sea and, in the strain and tug 
of conflicting elements, momentarily threatening to 
burst asunder — an awful wreck of civil contention. 

The Confederation had proved its inadequacy. What 
were the demands of the hour ? Most clearly, a reor- 
ganization of the government from its very foundations. 
There must be a new code of laws, centripetal in their 
purpose, a financial policy that would rescue states and 
nation from impending bankruptcy, a policy that would 
weld together the elements of discord, and produce har- 
mony in the whole — what else than a policy of national- 
ism, broad, fervent, strong? What need for statesman 
and philosopher, for economist and financier, for the man 
of broad ideas and far-reaching conceptions in the prob- 
lems of human government ! Will America yet rehearse 
the career of Greece and Rome ? Must history here too 
repeat itself ? Can it be that the star of the Revolution 
will yet go down in hopeless night, to demonstrate once 
and forever the utter futility of Republican Government ? 
No ! In that hour of anguish and necessity, a states- 



98 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

man, versed in all the complexities of historic conflict, 
and well fitted to perceive the faults of civil administra- 
tion, arose to the needs of the country in union and finance. 
That man was Alexander Hamilton. 

As far back as Revolutionary days, and while engaged 
as aide to General Washington, this young statesman was 
laying the foundations of his future policy, exerting all 
his energies to mould the public opinion, and turn its tide 
toward a successful national movement. 

A convention was called at Annapolis in the interests 
of interstate commerce. This suggested to Hamilton a 
method of prosecuting his purpose. He saw in it his 
opportunity to bring about a national convention, the 
delegates to which would have power to consider the great 
question of reorganization. With this purpose he threw 
his energies into securing representatives to Annapolis 
from his own state; was one of the two commissioners to 
go; and drafted the address of the body there assembled 
calling for a new conference. Returning to New York, 
he there secured the appointment of delegates to that 
conference. 

The memorable convention of 1787 met the next year 
at Philadelphia. In this assemblage were present the 
advocates of opposing political philosophies; on the one 
hand the exponents of ultra-democracy and French Revo- 
lutionism; on the other, those who strove with all the in- 
tensity of their natures for the reconciliation of liberty 
with strength and order. All were seeking that form of 
constitutional government which would best conserve 
the dynamic energy of the young nation's freedom. No 
such body of political sages has before or since assembled 
in American halls. Hamilton was there, contending 
against mighty odds for the success of the principle that 
had been the actuating power of his life, and there the 
genius of his philosophic insight shone with prevailing 



STATESMAN AND NATION 99 

lustre. In that clash of theories and that heat of argu- 
ment were shaped the anchors of the nation's hope, and 
there he saw the fruition of his labors, for " there is not in 
the Constitution of the United States an element of order, 
or force, or duration that he did not contribute power- 
fully to secure." 

The new Constitution was presented to the people. 
To secure its ratification was now the duty of its framers. 
Countless obstacles had to be met and overcome. All 
the old solicitude about liberty was revived. The occasion 
aroused anew the turbulent and anarchistic elements of the 
social mind. Here, again, Hamilton rose to the exigencies 
of the hour. With the force of Aristotle in his brain, he 
seized upon the complications of the situation. He 
placed firm faith in the principles of the new government 
as the only hope for a correct solution of existing prob- 
lems, and threw all the eloquence of his sound logic, all 
the convincing argument of his intellect, all the matchless 
powers of his being, into its championship. In the series 
of essays that followed he conquered the jealousies of the 
ignorant, frustrated the intents of the designing, reversed 
the hostile opinions of the superficial, and strengthened 
the weak faith of the timid by the rapid flow of his magic 
pen. "The Federalist" is yet the " Iliad of Statesman- 
ship" — unique in literature, as well as in political history; 
in argumentative force, and as an exposition of the funda- 
mental principles of government, it is without a peer. 

Hamilton's service in securing the adoption of the Con- 
stitution was specific as well as general. In commercial 
and military matters New York was the most important 
state in the Union; to secure her allegiance to the new 
Constitution was of paramount importance. But there 
the opposition spirit centred. The outlook was dark. 
The tide of popular passion ran high, and threats of com- 
pelling New York to ratify by force of arms were indulged 



100 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

in by other states. Hamilton, however, took a wiser and 
better course. Though two-thirds of the delegates and 
four-sevenths of the people were against him, he entered 
the New York Convention and wrung ratification from 
his opponents by his brilliance in debate. It was one of 
the most signal triumphs that was ever gained on the floors 
of listening senates. What was the secret of his eloquence ? 
Who can explain it ? The secret that lies at the basis of 
all art, that has made the works of Phidias, of Michael 
Angelo, of Mozart, imperishable; the essence of perfect 
simplicity, of naturalness, of depth, of intense earnestness, 
— the true art that is the manifestation of thought and of 
the deep-seated feeling of the soul, — this was the principle 
that guided Hamilton as he unfolded his argument and 
urged his plea, and this was the genius of the orator. 

The new government was at last on trial, and Hamilton, 
hitherto its greatest advocate, was now summoned to its 
support as Secretary of the Treasury. Here he found 
ample scope for his powers as a financier. In his first 
report on public credit he outlines the course he is to pur- 
sue, and no truer index to his national views, policy, and 
practice can be found than in these lines. He says: 
"To justify and preserve the confidence of the most en- 
lightened friends of good government; to promote the 
increasing respectability of the American name; to 

CEMENT MORE CLOSELY THE UNION OF THE STATES; to 

establish public order on the basis of an upright and 
liberal policy, — these are the great and invaluable ends 
to be secured by a proper and adequate provision for the 
support of the public credit." 

The fiscal policy that sprung from Hamilton's produc- 
tive brain fills us with wonder. In the face of appalling 
difficulties, he showed a fertility in expedients, measured 
only by the multiplication of emergencies. To provide 
for the national and state debts; to gain a productive 



STATESMAN AND NATION 101 

revenue; to construct the machinery of the Treasury de- 
partment; to enunciate and give initial impetus to a pro- 
tective system; to restore confidence and create the public 
credit, — all this, the work of a single man, was the work 
that lies at the foundation of our national prosperity. 
"It was a great policy, the work of a master mind looking 
far into the future." In its comprehensive measures 
we find the financier lost to view in the finished statesman. 

Thus, throughout his career, Alexander Hamilton stands 
forth the embodiment of the dominant idea of nationalism. 
In political theory he had grasped the great possibilities 
of American ascendency; an important factor in framing 
the Constitution, he had given his all, in the largeness of 
his statesmanship, to uphold and sustain it, until, in his 
crowning labors as Cabinet officer, he had put in operation 
a government, — the capstone of six thousand years of 
political development, — which was in all essential parts 
the system that had long been enthroned in his own 
consciousness. 

So designed and established, the new government had 
entered upon a career of unrivaled industrialism and 
political experiment. Empire had risen where the sun 
descends, and its star was the forerunner of the blazing 
orb of day. In a little time a foreign war gained for the 
young nation its international commercial independence. 
The acquisition of territory was in the line of the policy 
that the nation should be wide as the continent. The 
rapid development of internal resources effected confidence 
at home and respect abroad. Everywhere, silently, surely, 
swiftly, there was at work the wondrous law of change; 
it was guiding the progress of thought, and leading the 
nation to the dignity of a true life; it was erecting in every 
heart the altar of a national reverence, — that invisible 
Union, which to-day controls our will, the thought of 
which makes our pulses quicken with patriotic pride. 



102 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

One crucial test was yet in store for the national prin- 
ciple; and when the nation rose, trembling, breathless, 
reeling, but "unwounded from the dreadful close" of a 
domestic strife unparalleled in the annals of history, the 
cause of nationalism had achieved its final triumph. The 
slightest possibility of future disruption had forever disap- 
peared. The national spirit had become a living, trans- 
forming power, broad as the measure of civilization, deep 
as the fundamental truths of human government, resist- 
less as the surging tides of ocean — in actual achievement, 
great; in governmental possibilities, boundless. 

Gazing thus with admiration and pride upon a strong, 
wealthy, and aggressive nation, the greatest republic the 
world has ever seen, the mind is drawn irresistibly backward 
to one who, after the flight of a fateful century, stands 
easily first in the brilliant assemblage of American states- 
men; to him who, with a passion for facts, a yearning for 
the pursuit of truth, and an unswerving faith in the abso- 
lute practicableness of his ideal, consecrated all the peer- 
less splendor of his young manhood to the championship 
of the nationalism that has proved the coronal of forty 
centuries of governmental experiment, — the philosopher, 
the patriot, the statesman, — Alexander Hamilton. 



THE NEGRO — AMERICA'S GREAT PROBLEM 
John V. Dobson 

DAKOTA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 

(Awarded first place in the Contest of the Western League of Oratory, 

1908) 

The worth of a civilization is never greater than the 
worth of the man at its centre. The standard of a nation 
can rise no higher than the standard of its citizenship. 
To furnish to all its citizens, irrespective of race or color, 
the conditions whereby they may attain unto the highest 
standard of the individual is the chiefest function of a 
great race-embracing government like our own. To fail 
in this vital duty toward any considerable portion of our 
citizens is to fall short of the high destiny to which America 
is appointed. 

Already America has been the arena of mighty conflicts. 
Here world forces have clashed. Here great principles 
have been tested and weighty problems solved. Here 
for two hundred years the forces of Oligarchy and Democ- 
racy had full play. Then in the heyday of their glory 
they met in deadly conflict. Northern Democracy tri- 
umphed; Southern Oligarchy was overthrown. Slavery; 
the great object of attack and defence, was destroyed. 
This decisive conflict solved a great problem, but by the 
very nature of its purpose created a greater one. To 
make four million slaves free men is a worthy task; to 
make these free men — now numbering ten million souls — 
industrious, intelligent, progressive, patriotic citizens is a 
worthier task. This is America's great problem. 

103 



104 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

It involves the just coordination of two races under 
principles and institutions that are the flowering of the 
highest political consciousness of mankind, — the one 
race but a few generations out of savagery, the other the 
proud exponent of a civilization that is the very consum- 
mation of the divine purpose wrought out through twenty 
centuries of human progress. On the borders of life, 
where the baser elements of these races mingle, there will 
be many a virulent phase; but it should be proclaimed 
above all the din of meaner striving that the better heart 
of the two races beats alike to the deeper cadences of the 
Constitution and the spirit of true Americanism. 

Is it strange that the negro, upon coming out of two 
hundred and fifty years of slavery, should be dazzled by 
the glare of the broad noonday of liberty and citizenship 
into which he found himself thrust by the War of the Re- 
bellion and the amendments to the Constitution ? Is it 
strange that he did not realize what it meant and all that 
it meant ? His full awakening and his permanent advance- 
ment can be only by the unhurried processes of race 
development. 

The first problem in the life of any people is largely 
physical and must be solved by labor. This is the natural 
order; this is the historic order. Labor is a basic element 
in the development of individuals and of races. De- 
spisers of toil are never builders of nations. This is the 
secret of America's greatness — an ancestry of toilers; 
men to whom industry was a creed, muscle a virtue, toil 
a religion. From men of this vigorous fibre has sprung a 
race whose industrial achievements have no parallel in 
history. The development of this country from sea to 
sea, and from gulf to lakes, is, in its daring genius and its 
conquering energy, industry's sublimest epic. 

Industrial independence must be the first condition for 
the permanent elevation of the negro in America. Servi- 



THE NEGRO — AMERICA'S GREAT PROBLEM 105 

tude had taught him one great lesson — that of toil. 
But with freedom came a terrible reaction. To the negro 
slavery was the sum of all villanies, the root of all evil, 
the cause of all prejudice. In his simple and lowly prayer 
swelled one mighty supplication — liberty ! At last it 
came, bewildering, maddening even, in its strangeness 
and its ecstasy. In the wild carnival of freedom that 
followed all restraints were cast aside. Labor, that had 
become to the negro the badge of servitude, was now 
a thing of the past. Peace, rest from toil, unrestrained 
enjoyment of the best things in a free and bounteous land, 
were to be his forever. How unbounded the faith of that 
simple ignorance, how deep the disappointment of that 
lowly people, how awful the realization of what it meant 
to be poor and black and ignorant in a land where money 
was master and Caucasian, king. 

Years have passed since then. The old generation, 
skilled in the school of slavery, is no more. A new gen- 
eration has come — a generation of unskilled toilers. 
To teach them the art of labor, that art which conquers 
the forces of nature and redeems toil from its drudgery, 
this must be the first step in the solution of the negro prob- 
lem. In a material sense the South is still an undevel- 
oped country. Manifold possibilities lie open to the negro 
on every hand. Here is the opportunity which, unim- 
proved, may never be his again. The present generation of 
colored people in America must largely determine whether 
the negro is to occupy the high and manly vantage-ground 
of industrial independence, or whether he is to degenerate 
into the mere ward and drudge of the white race. 

Nothing will mere rapidly bring about right relations 
between the two races than the commercial progress of 
the negro. Trade, commerce, is ever the forerunner of 
wholesome and friendly relations between races and na- 
tions. If the negro rises to the full measure of his present 



106 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

industrial opportunity, he can make himself such a factor 
in the life of the South that he will not have to seek privi- 
leges, they will be freely conferred upon him; and he 
shall leave to coming generations of black men the price- 
less heritage of equal opportunity to all that is best in 
the life of our republic. 

But the ultimate forces in race development are spirit- 
ual. Mental strength and moral fibre determine finally 
the place of individuals and of races. The nation that 
poured out billions of treasure and the costlier blood of 
her sons to free her slaves dare not stop short of their full 
enfranchisement through the freedom of knowledge and 
of culture. Skilled hands, disciplined minds, enlightened 
hearts, — these are the conquering triad in race progress 
and race emancipation. 

The negro in America faces as stern a problem as ever 
confronted any race. Consider the situation: they are 
surrounded by the strongest race of men on the globe, — a 
race that has mastered every other people that has dared 
to look it in the face, a race that leads the world in in- 
dustry and commerce, a race whose genius for the gigantic, 
in enterprise and achievement, is the marvel of history. 
This is the race with which the negro must struggle 
hand to hand, brain with brain, in working out his own 
destiny. 

Facing such conditions, his supreme need is for leaders 
— educated men; men who know the struggles of oppressed 
peoples toward light and liberty in the past ; men who have 
faith in the Providence that works through all the ages; 
men of courage, men of ideals, men of vision, who can give 
to the millions of their race inspiration, ambition, hope; 
men who can lead these millions into their highest life and 
their noblest estate as worthy citizens of a great republic 
And these elect sons of the race, who are to lead in its 
full emancipation, must come not from the fields or the 



THE NEGRO — AMERICA'S GREAT PROBLEM 107 

workshops, not from the preparatory or industrial 
schools, but from the colleges and universities. Call the 
roll of the spiritual emancipators of men, and Paul answers 
from the School of Gamaliel, Luther from the University 
of Wittenburg, Huss from the University of Prague, 
Calvin from the University of Geneva, Wycliff and Wesley 
from the classic halls of Oxford. Higher education alone 
can give to the negro race its trained leadership and its 
true enfranchisement among men. 

This problem, however, is not merely racial ; it is 
national. Its solution involves not only the welfare of 
the negro, but the future of a republic. The black man 
is a constitutional factor of this republic, and with him 
we stand or fall. The negroes constitute one-third of the 
population of the South. They hold more than one third 
of her destiny in their black hands. What the negro does 
for the South depends very largely on what the South 
does for the negro. She may make of him the black 
diamond in the coronet of her intelligence and glory, or 
the thunder-cloud that will some day break in a storm of 
anarchy upon her head. There is no escape from the 
law of retributive justice. The ever increasing hosts of 
black citizens will be a mighty factor in the progress and 
prosperity of this republic, or they will prove a veritable 
body of death, retarding every movement to national 
power and glory. 

The twentieth century is to prove the crucial century 
in history. Yonder on the Pacific the world forces are 
gathering for a last great contest of civilizations. 
Occident faces Orient. The exultant spirit of the New 
World confronts the sullen persistence of the Old. The 
light and liberty of the Christian faith stand over against 
the superstition and tyranny of Old World beliefs. It 
is the grapple of civilizations — the conflict of the century; 
the result of which must be the turning back of the forces 



108 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

of liberty and enlightenment, or the final supremacy of 
Christian civilization upon the earth. 

The events of a single decade have thrust America out 
into strategic position upon the seas, and mark her as 
the determining force in this world conflict. But if Amer- 
ica is to lead, if she is to prove the invincible standard- 
bearer of Christian civilization, she must work out upon 
her own soil the full vindication of the principles of justice 
and liberty for which she stands among the nations. She 
cannot fall short of her duty to the black man within her 
borders if she is to fulfil her mission to the yellow man 
across the seas. She must front the crisis of the century 
with unbroken solidarity of national life, her citizens, 
black and white, exultant in the liberty and privilege of 
citizenship in a great republic. Her national consistency 
must be the measure of her world prestige and potency. 

We have faith in America. We have faith that the 
genius of her free institutions and the high-minded states- 
manship of her loyal sons will work out a righteous ad- 
justment of her great problem, until the negro shall be 
no longer an extraneous and threatening element in the 
body politic, but a component and worthy factor of her 
national life. We have faith in the ultimate triumph of 
true Americanism. We have faith in that spirit of exul- 
tant Democracy that has made the common people of 
America greatest among the peoples of the earth, and 
that will as certainly elevate the negro in America, 
enriched by industry and ennobled by education, to his 
true place among the races of mankind. Then shall the 
sable hosts of her redeemed citizens wake the canebrakes 
of this Old World to a new song, in triumphant acclaim 
to America's accomplished mission and Columbia's ex- 
alted name. 



NEGROES IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY 
William Francis Woodruff 

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI 

(The following speech was delivered in the Missouri-Texas debate of 1907, 
the Missouri team (who won the decision) having the negative of the 
proposition, "Resolved, That negroes should neither be enlisted nor 
commissioned in the United States army." ) 

The University of Texas and the University of Missouri 
have again met in friendly debate. This time it is the 
question of negro soldiers that is before us for discussion. 
We have listened with much interest to the able argument 
just presented by the eloquent leader of the Affirmative, 
and we feel sure that all of the best that can be said in 
support of their side of the question will be said by the 
representatives of the University of Texas this evening. 

In view of the unfortunate Brownsville affair, that has 
occurred so recently in your very midst, and in the light 
of what has just been said, it may seem that there is but 
one side to this question : that negroes are unfit to serve 
in the army and that their enlistment should at once be 
discontinued. And yet, upon reflection, it will doubtless 
be conceded that at least something can be said in support 
of a policy that has been followed in this country ever 
since the birth of our nation. What we ask, and what 
we know we shall receive, is simply a fair and impartial 
hearing of a few points which, to us, seem worthy of con- 
sideration in a discussion of this question. 

It may be not inappropriate to remark, at the outset, 

109 



110 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

that Missouri is more of a Southern than a Northern 
State; that the negro problem is present with us, as it is 
with you; that negroes constitute one-third of the popu- 
lation of the city of Columbia, where the University is 
located; that Missouri was a slave State; and that it is 
the son of an ex-Confederate soldier who is speaking to 
you now. So in sentiment, tradition, and opportunities 
for studying the question the Affirmative and the Nega- 
tive stand upon common ground. Not as Northerner 
and Southerner, but as Southerner and Southerner, are 
we endeavoring to reach the proper solution of the ques- 
tion before us. 

We fully agree with the gentleman of the Affirmative 
that the race question is the most serious problem now 
confronting the American people; but, as we have faith 
in the future of American civilization, we believe that 
time will see this great question satisfactorily settled. 
Nor do we for a moment believe that its solution will 
come along the line of social equality or along the line 
of political equality, but rather along the lines of equality 
of service and equality before the law. 

It is because we hope that some day the Anglo-Saxon 
race will dominate the civilization of the world that we 
are contending for the negro soldiers. If, in this strenu- 
ous age of commercial competition and racial rivalry, 
America is to contribute toward this end, she must use 
every element in her population to its best possible ad- 
vantage. Every individual and every class of individuals 
must perform that work for which they are best fitted; 
for this way alone lie progress, prosperity, industrial peace, 
and national success. 

It was because they recognized this principle, that 
Congress, in 1869, provided for the organization of four 
regiments of colored soldiers. It is still the policy of the 
government to enlist a limited number of negroes, placing 



NEGROES IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY 111 

over them white officers, but to commission practically 
none. It is this policy that we are defending. 

Forty years of experience has fully justified this act of 
Congress; for it appears, from the testimonials of army 
officials who have served with them, that the negroes are 
by nature especially fitted to be soldiers. General Mer- 
ritt, who served for ten years with them, says: "I have 
always found the negroes in the army intelligent, zealous 
in the performance of their duty, brave in battle, easily 
disciplined, and most efficient in the care of their horses 
and equipments." Lieutenant Glasford, now for two 
years stationed with the 9th Cavalry at Fort Riley, 
Kansas, says: "The average negro soldier is far more 
disciplinary than the average white soldier, has greater 
pride in his soldierly appearance, and greater respect for 
the officers over him." Colonel Bullard, who commanded 
a raw regiment of Alabama volunteers during the Spanish- 
American War, says, " Negroes come to the colors with 
more of the first urgently needed qualities, and readier 
for service, than do whites." 

Because of this especial adaptability of the negro for 
soldier life, and because of the love he has for army service, 
the standard of the army is raised by his presence in it. 
The best-drilled organization of troops at Camp Alger, 
during the Spanish-American war, was Captain Young's 
colored battalion. Company L of the 49th Volunteers, 
a colored regiment, had upon their roll for a year, while in 
the Philippines, one hundred and six men, every man of 
whom was well and did service every day in the year. 
The percentage of desertions, court-martials, and drunk- 
enness is much less among the negroes than among the 
white troops. A few years ago, the 9th Cavalry, colored, 
astonished the War Department by reporting not a single 
desertion in a whole year, — a record until that time 
undreamed of; while there are now among the white 



112 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

troops more than six thousand desertions each year, and 
the number is continually growing greater. Furthermore, 
the negro is invaluable to the army, in that he can be used 
to perform that work which is distasteful to white troops. 
The only colored troops now permanently stationed' in 
America have just been sent to West Point, to care for 
the cadets' horses, a work to which white troops seriously 
objected. 

Now it is too often thought that, although the negro 
may be well fitted for the ordinary military formal- 
ities, when it comes to actual fighting, he is a coward. 
But history proves the exact converse. The first 
patriotic blood shed in the struggle of the American 
colonies for independence was that of a negro soldier, 
upon the streets of Boston. The historian Scribner 
says of the behavior of the colored troops in the battle 
of Rhode Island: "None behaved better than Green's 
colored regiment, which three times repulsed the deadly 
onslaughts of the veteran Hessians." In like manner 
they performed through the Revolutionary War and the 
War of 1812. The history of the four colored regiments 
now in the army shows that they have always been brave 
in battle, and that they have performed a service which 
it would be very unbecoming a fair-minded people to 
forget. For years they bore the brunt of the hard frontier 
Indian service, defending and protecting, especially, the 
homes of the frontiersmen of the great State of Texas 
from the savage attacks of the lawless Indians. When 
war with Spain was declared, they were the first to be 
ordered to the front. They fought bravely in every 
important engagement of that conflict. At San Juan, 
the colored cavalry practically saved from annihilation 
the famous regiment of Rough Riders. The world has 
yet to see a finer example of self-sacrifice than that dis- 
played by the negroes of the 24th, who, after facing death 



NEGROES IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY 113 

for days upon the battle-field, voluntarily took up the 
loathsome and dangerous work of burying the dead and 
nursing the fever-stricken soldiers. 

Such is the service that the negro soldier has rendered, 
and is still capable of rendering. When, in connection 
with these facts, we consider the difficulty which recruit- 
ing officers have in filling the private ranks; when we 
consider that of such a low order are the applicants that 
seventy per cent of them must be rejected; and when we 
consider that now, more than ever before, we have an 
especial need for negro soldiers, to serve in our tropical 
possessions, — we find that the army cannot well spare 
the service of the negro. 

In view of these facts, that reason must be very potent 
and conclusive which demands the reversal of a policy 
thus far followed. The only reason there can be must 
lie in the relation between this question and the race 
problem. Now the real question before us, in dealing 
with the negro problem, — since the negroes cannot be 
got rid of, — is : How to make out of the worthless negro 
a productive, law-abiding citizen, and at the same time 
maintain the integrity and complete superiority of the 
Anglo-Saxon race. That enlistment in the army cannot 
lead the negro even to hope for social equality, or in any 
way lead to political domination, my colleague will, I 
believe, prove to your entire satisfaction. That it bene- 
fits him industrially I will now endeavor to point 
out. 

The colored chaplain of the 25th says that the most 
important reason for using negroes as soldiers is that the 
negro himself needs the training that the army gives. 
Of so much importance do they regard this principle in 
European countries that no able-bodied young man is con- 
sidered as having completed his education until he has had 
military training; consequently, a number of European 



114 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

states require that young men shall spend a certain period 
of their youth as soldiers in their country's army. 

The negro goes into the army with his native faculties 
unrestrained and undeveloped. The army, by its train- 
ing and discipline, inculcates into him the fundamental 
principles of duty and responsibility. He comes out of 
the army having acquired habits of promptness, clean- 
liness, and obedience to law and order. 

We do not base our contention that the army benefits 
the negro upon conjecture alone. In so far as the time 
at our disposal would permit, we have made a careful 
investigation of this subject, inquiring into the character- 
istics of the ex-negro soldiers in three Missouri cities. 
We have found that in two of these cities the majority of 
all the property owned by negroes is owned by former negro 
soldiers. We have further found that, in one of these cities, 
eighty-seven per cent of the ex-negro soldiers have bought 
and paid for homes since coming out of the army; in a 
second, seventy per cent have done the same thing; and 
in a third, sixty-six per cent. Furthermore, all these 
negroes are of the type to which no one objects, — respect- 
able, hard-working, law-abiding negroes : a benefit, rather 
than a detriment, to the community in which they live. 
Let me give you just one specific example. I could give 
many more, had I time. The most efficient janitor em- 
ployed by the University of Missouri is an ex-negro soldier. 
He served a number of years in the regular army. At 
last, being wounded, he was forced to retire; and now, 
although he possesses but one arm and receives sufficient 
pension to support him, he works early and late every 
day in the year, and is honored and respected by faculty, 
students, and citizens alike. 

Nor does this beneficial result stop with the negro alone 
who enlists; for, when he returns to civil life, he is enabled, 
as we have seen, materially to better his station in life, 



NEGROES IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY 115 

and, just as every successful man is at once an example 
and an incentive to every other man to become successful, 
so, especially, is this negro soldier an example to his less 
industrious brothers. Thus, eventually, to some extent 
at least, the whole negro race is industrially benefited. 

So, by enlisting negroes in the army, we are not only 
not complicating the race problem, but we are attaining 
that very end for which we are striving, — the industrial 
development of the negro: and, instead of denying him 
this privilege, it would seem that we should solicit his 
enlistment; for, at the same time that he is benefiting 
himself, he is filling a necessary place in our national life, 
— the position of private soldier in the regular army, 
a position which no ambitious, industrious white man 
will for a moment think of accepting until necessity 
demands it. Thus the negro soldier is helping to bear the 
white man's burden, while he remains happily at home, 
and maintains the supremacy of his race. 

But, say the gentlemen of the Affirmative, negro sol- 
diers are riotous and unruly. Now we find that all 
soldiers, in all times, have occasionally become unruly 
and caused serious disturbances. This is unfortunate, 
indeed: but why should we demand more of negroes 
than of white soldiers ? And, when we consider the real 
accusations against the negroes in the American army, 
we find that they are neither so serious nor so extensive 
as the gentlemen of the Affirmative would have you 
believe. They have been accused of only eleven distur- 
bances during their whole period of service; in all of which 
not more than three men have been killed, and two 
wounded. A later full investigation shows that at least two 
of these accusations were wholly without foundation, and 
that in all there were strongly extenuating circumstances. 

But, it is said, these crimes are much worse, being com- 
mitted by negro soldiers, than if the same were committed 



116 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

by white soldiers, for it is feared that thus race prejudice 
is aroused. But this need not follow at all. We insist 
that it is folly to station negro soldiers in those communi- 
ties in the South where they are seriously objected to. 
Station them in the North; and if the North objects to 
them, why, here again we have assistance in the solution 
of the race problem; for, in this way, the North might 
be brought to understand the situation as it exists in the 
South, and thus to cooporate with the South in securing a 
speedy and satisfactory adjustment of the relations be- 
tween the races. But, if there is no place for them in 
the North or in the South, we still have the Philippines 
and our other tropical possessions, where they are es- 
pecially fitted to serve. 

Is it feared that the enlistment of negroes in the army 
will complicate the race problem ? The Negative would 
have fallen far short of their duty, if they failed to mention 
that contingency wherein failure to enlist them would 
result in certain disaster. America is to-day a world 
power. Our international relations have completely 
changed within the last ten years. As a result of our 
extended commerce and our new possessions, the proba- 
bility of a war with one of the great powers of the world 
is far more imminent than ever before. Suppose we should 
become involved in such a war, and a million men had to 
be sacrificed. What would be the effect upon the race 
problem, if this were a million white men, and not a 
single negro ? The result would be such that the mere 
contemplation of it is simply appalling. Deplorable 
indeed it is that any man must sacrifice his life to the 
god of war, but, since some one must die, should not 
each race bear at least its proportion of the losses ? How 
many a white man is to-day alive, how many a white family 
is to-day united, because some negro soldier has died upon 
the battle-field instead of some white man ? 



NEGROES IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY 117 

Now it is in the face of these facts : in face of the acknowl- 
edged efficiency of the negro soldier; in face of the service 
he has rendered and the needs of the army; in face of the 
fact that his enlistment does not complicate the race prob- 
lem, but assists in its solution; in face of the contingency of 
war, — it is in the face of these facts, that the gentlemen 
of the Affirmative must prove to your satisfaction that 
negroes should not be enlisted in the army of the United 
States. The burden of proof is upon them. 



INTENSIVE AND EXTENSIVE DEVELOPMENT 
Harry Judson Walker 

DENIS ON UNIVERSITY 
(An oration delivered at the Commencement Exercises of 1909.) 

The law of contrasts is universal. On the one hand 
we see cohesion, opposed on the other by disintegration; 
attraction, by repulsion; brittleness, by elasticity; heat, 
by cold; love, by hate; and intensive development by 
extensive development. It is the successful operation 
of these contrasting agencies, their mutual relations and 
proper balance, that keeps the universe in place and pro- 
motes the universal welfare. 

I would call attention to the law of contrasts, as seen in 
intensive and extensive development, in its relations to 
society and the individual, particularly the latter. A 
consideration of the history of nations and of the individ- 
ual shows that both, at different periods of their history, 
are affected by these two forms of development. The 
character and fate of both the nation and the individual 
depend upon the proper balance of intensive and extensive 
development in relation to each. 

From the side of the nation, the early history of Egypt 
gives us a striking example of the force of the improper 
relation between the two phases of this law of develop- 
ment. The natural features of the country prevented 
it from enlarging its territory. Extension toward the 
east was impossible because of mountain barriers; on 
the west were the dry barren plains of the Sahara; the 
terrors of the interior precluded extension toward the 

118 



INTENSIVE AND EXTENSIVE DEVELOPMENT 119 

south, and the northern border was washed by the waves 
of the Mediterranean. Thus was a small region, rightly 
called the " gift of the Nile," almost completely isolated 
and compelled to develop intensively. As a result, while 
yet civilization in all other parts of the world was in its 
infancy, before Greece and Rome were born, Egypt had 
developed a state of civilization, particularly in respect 
to the arts, which still commands the admiration and the 
wonder of the world. No traveller fails to see the ruins 
of the stupendous temple of Amen-Ra, at Karnak, or the 
imposing pyramids on the field of Gizeh. 

But the limit to intensive development was finally 
reached, and because of her failure to develop extensively, 
a period of decline was ushered in, and Egypt's boasted 
civilization was superseded by that of Greece and Rome. 

The history of our own country shows the force of a 
better relation between the two phases of this law than 
existed in Egypt. For a century and a half the early 
colonists were confined to a narrow strip along the Atlantic 
coast. On one side were the dangers of the sea; on the 
other, mountain barriers and the perils of the wilderness. 
Thus shut in, our country was compelled to develop in- 
tensively. And by this process she acquired strength, 
strength sufficient to stand alone and repel her foes. 
Soon her sailors ploughed deep furrows in the Atlantic, and 
the wilderness held no longer any perils. When the limit 
to her intensive development was reached, extension was 
begun; and to-day, excluding her island possessions, the 
billows of the Atlantic meet her on the east, and the gentle 
waves of the Pacific on the west. Does any one imagine 
that our country ever could have become the great nation 
that it is, had the Alleghany Mountains set a limit to our 
western extension? 

A nation is but an aggregate of individuals. And if it 
is true that intensive and extensive development demand 



120 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

a place in the life of the nation, then it follows that 
the same processes operate in the life of the individual. 
As with the nation, the character of the individual must 
ultimately depend upon the relation sustained by him 
toward these two counteracting forces, — the one narrow- 
ing and deepening, and the other broadening and balanc- 
ing. The highest and best results in life cannot be reached 
by the operation of one phase of this law to the exclusion 
of the other. It is only by the operation of both intensive 
and extensive development that the highest and fullest 
life of the individual is attained. 

One whose development is confined to the intensive 
becomes one-sided, narrow, and perhaps bigoted. He 
looks only at one side. So narrow becomes his vision 
and so concentrated his efforts that his gaze is fixed and 
his every movement is directed by a single impulse. He 
fails to see truth in the relation of part to part and in 
the relation of part to whole. The fact that all truth is 
related and interdependent makes no appeal to him. 
The importance of the truth at which he looks, as com- 
pared with other truth, becomes exaggerated. As he 
continues to gaze, its importance continues to grow, until, 
by and by, his small speck of truth has eclipsed the whole 
mass. He may become a crank or a fanatic, but never 
a genius. History shows many examples of this one- 
sided development, — Spartans in the physical, Athenians 
in the intellectual, and the ascetics of the Middle Ages 
in the religious. 

The basis for a full manhood is laid in extensive de- 
velopment, which provides for the physical, mental, and 
moral life of the individual, and which recognizes the rela- 
tion these sustain to each other. This phase of develop- 
ment is the liberal type; it is addressed to the man as a 
whole, and is designed to bring the potential into the 
actual. 



INTENSIVE AND EXTENSIVE DEVELOPMENT 121 

The gymnasium finds a place here, strengthening and 
developing the muscles, and so training them that they 
are brought into complete subjection to the mind. Every 
set of muscles is carefully trained and developed. The 
physical organism is completely rounded out and made 
subject to the higher faculties. 

The physical serves as a basis for the mental life. As 
the intellectual life holds a higher place than the physical 
in the individual, it therefore follows that this phase of 
life should receive greater care in its development. All 
parts of the mental life, intellect, emotion, and will, must 
be developed, or the result will be a one-sided mental life. 
Our educational institutions recognize the importance of 
the complete development of the mental life, and the 
college curriculum is made out with that end in view. 
Each course is adapted to meet the needs of every phase 
of the mind. The part of the course that may seem least 
desirable to us when making out our schedule is, very 
probably, the part needed to make our mental develop- 
ment complete. The tendency of some colleges to pander 
to the popular demand for wholly elective courses is, I 
believe, a mistake. It is not expected that the immature 
and undeveloped are as competent to judge of the needs 
of their mental life as those who map out the curriculum, 
the Solons of intellectual culture. No short specialized 
course can meet the demands for the development of the 
intellect, the emotions, and the will, and should not be 
tolerated by any institution that desires the name of col- 
lege. He who goes forth from a college with a mind de- 
veloped on one side only is a dishonor to the institution 
from which he goes and a travesty on college education 
in general. 

But the individual is not complete when the physical 
and mental life have reached their highest point of de- 
velopment. The Greek masters have been called the 



122 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

" intellectual educators of the world." Greek language, 
literature, philosophy, and culture were widespread, and 
even the Roman Empire acknowledged the intellectual 
supremacy of Greece. Greece showed to the world what 
the human mind could do at its best. Yet in the midst of 
her highest intellectual culture, Greece was low in morals. 
Immorality was widespread, and virtue was almost un- 
known. Prostitution in honor of the gods was a part of 
worship, and Grecian altars reeked with human sacrifice. 
Greece was lacking in moral development. What Greece 
had long sought for in vain, the Master Teacher brought, 
a rational and abiding foundation for moral development. 
And he who would be a complete man must have the foun- 
dation of his moral life laid in Him, and the whole life 
built on that foundation. 

Thus with a base laid in a broad and balanced culture, 
with the potential in every part of life brought into the 
actual, the individual is able to judge of the lines along 
which he can most profitably specialize. But only after 
the broadening process of extensive development can he 
safely begin the narrowing process of intensive develop- 
ment. Now, with his broadened horizon, he can see 
truth in its proper relations, and can direct his energies 
along a special line with satisfactory results: first the 
college, then the technical school. 

The individual who neglects either of these two forms 
of development must be prepared to accept the fate that 
befell Egypt. But if he would be in harmony with the 
line of development of our country, if he would realize 
the highest possibilities in life, then it is necessary that he 
should find in his life a place for both extensive and in- 
tensive development, and keep them in their proper re- 
lations. 



THE UNITED STATES IN PAN-AMERICAN 
TRADE 

Wyatt B. Martin 

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 

(Awarded the Senior Oratorical Medal at the Commencement of the 
Florida State University, 1909) 

A century and a quarter of national life has brought 
the people of the United States to a point of distinct and 
radical change in their economic and political relation to 
the rest of the world. The nineteenth century was the 
history of our own internal development. The twentieth 
century will be the history of investing in foreign countries 
the surplus and increment of the nineteenth; it will be 
a history of our manufactures and foreign trade. 

The fathers of the republic intended that this should 
continue an agricultural community, that Europe should 
continue to supply us with manufactures and ocean trans- 
portation. Fate did not will it so to be, and the wars of 
Napoleon hastened the change. 

The turmoil in Europe during the first thirty years of 
our life as a nation in a great measure destroyed our 
foreign commercial relations. Thus we were driven to 
manufacturing at an early period. The area of the 
country was great, the population small, and the people 
impoverished by the long war for independence. In- 
ternal trade was weak, even in proportion to the small 
wealth and population. Progress was slow, but capital 
and immigrants from Europe hastened the pace of each 

123 



124 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

succeeding year. A century of breaking the soil, clearing 
the forests, building mills and furnaces, and of mining 
and herding has wrought a marvellous change. The 
wealth of the nation has grown by leaps and bounds; its 
power and means of producing wealth surpass those of 
any other people. The wealth of Crcesus has been esti- 
mated at $8,000,000, but there are over seventy estates 
in America worth over $35,000,000 each. The wealth of 
New York alone is $13,000,000,000. We produce one- 
third of the world's coal and three-fourths of its cotton. 
We produce more steel and iron than England and Ger- 
many combined. Our railroads carry twice as much 
merchandise every year as is carried by the railways of 
all the other countries of the earth put together. The 
general working power of the country was estimated in 1895 
to be 130,000,000,000 foot pounds daily, or nearly equal 
to the combined working power of Great Britain, France, 
and Germany. During this period of internal develop- 
ment we were a debtor nation, drawing wealth and 
energy from every source and concentrating it upon our 
own enterprises. The engrossing spirit of our national 
growth excluded from our consideration the possibilities 
and business of the rest of the world. 

Since 1896 the opportunities for investments in foreign 
lands have attracted large amounts of capital from the 
United States. We are no longer debtors; we have paid 
our indebtedness to Europe and have joined the ranks of 
investors: we are looking for foreign markets to open 
and for foreign resources to develop. No more conclusive 
proof of this foreign movement of capital and the expan- 
sion of our manufactures can be'produced than the figures 
on exports and imports. In 1800 our imports were largely 
manufactures and exceeded our exports by $20,000,000, 
but in 1907, when we had turned manufacturers, our 
imports were $1,400,000,000, while our exports were 



THE UNITED STATES IN PAN-AMERICAN TRADE 125 

$1,800,000,000, — thus giving us a favorable balance 
of trade of $400,000,000. 

It now remains to be shown with whom we can trade 
the most profitably: what countries are best adapted to 
our needs, and under what agreements we shall trade 
with them. 

In the past we have traded most with Europe, but we 
must soon look for other fields. Europe is a manufactur- 
ing continent, and we shall not need manufactures. It is 
a principle of sound economics that we must buy from 
those to whom we sell. Nor can we consider Asia or 
Africa as available territory, for they are geographically 
and industrially ill-adapted to our needs. Moreover, 
they are under the dominion of Europe, whose nations 
have colonies in every quarter. It is true that we have 
a foothold in Southeastern Asia, but the distance is so 
great and the products so few that our trade with them 
cannot be very great. It is not with Europe or Asia or 
Africa that the United States is best fitted for commercial 
relations, but Canada and South America with the United 
States can form a commercial union compared with which 
the mighty Zollverein of the German states will be insig- 
nificant. Nature has fitted the American nations in a 
wonderful way for reciprocal trade, and it is only because 
of the policy of protection which man has placed that we 
are now so alienated. 

An analysis of our imports shows that these countries 
are capable of furnishing all our food imports and over 
80 per cent of our imports for manufacturers. We have 
been taught to disregard these countries because some 
of their products come into competition with our own, 
but an investigation shows that the losses from a free 
interchange of products is nil when compared with the 
benefits. 

These statements appear exaggerated, but not in light 



126 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

of the tremendous possibilities and resources of the nations 
involved. 

Broadside to our northern frontier lies Canada. 
Canada, larger than the United States, has 500,000 
square miles more of available lands. Moreover, it has 
450,000,000,000 acres of paper pulp forests, — enough to 
supply the world for ages. These forests are contiguous 
to our own fast-diminishing supplies in New England 
and the Northwest. She has coal and iron fields as 
extensive as our own, and it is an important and remark- 
able fact that these lie on Lake Superior, the Pacific, and 
the Atlantic, while all those of the United States are in- 
land. The wheat fields of Canada are so rich that 
farmers from our wheat lands in the Northwest migrate 
every year by thousands; a large portion of the world's 
furs and hides come from the northern part of Canada, 
and the exports of fish amount to many millions of 
dollars. 

Tariff barriers have not been sufficient to overcome 
the natural affinity of the United States and Canada. In 
1907 our trade with Canada was only exceeded by that 
with Germany, England, France, Cuba, and Brazil. In 
1906 the exports of Canada were $256,000,000, of 
which the United States received $98,000,000, or 38.1 
per cent. In the same year her imports amounted to 
$290,000,000, of which the United States sent 60 per cent. 
Great as are these opportunities for expansion, they are 
even greater in the South! 

At our south lie the states of Latin America and the 
West Indies. These countries have just passed from a 
stage of militarism to an age of industrialism. Revolu- 
tions, dictators, and revolutionary generals are fast ceas- 
ing to be looked upon with favor or tolerated with in- 
difference. They are building states modelled after our 
own, where protection of property and civil and political 



THE UNITED STATES IN PAN-AMERICAN TRADE 127 

liberty shall be guaranteed to every citizen. The oppor- 
tunities of the field thus awakened are so great that 
words do not describe them nor figures reveal them. 
The area of South America alone is 9,000,000,000 square 
miles; a large portion of this lies in the temperate 
zone. The pampas of Argentine, the uplands of Brazil, 
the mountain valleys of Chile, Ecuador, and Peru, offer 
comfortable habitations for hundreds of millions. In 
1900 the population of South America was 42,000,000, — 
less than six to the square mile. The density was one-eighth 
of that of Missouri, and less than one-sixtieth of that of 
Massachusetts, and less than one per cent of that of Bel- 
gium. But the resources of the country are so abundant 
that the trade is already immense. In 1907 her exports 
were $750,000,000, while her imports were $500,000,000. 
This is increasing rapidly every year. In eleven years 
the exports of Chile have increased 45 per cent, from 
$54,000,000 in 1894, to $78,000,000 in 1905. In eight 
years the exports of Peru have increased 100 per cent, 
from $14,000,000 in 1897 to $28,000,000 in 1905. In 
ten years the exports of Brazil have increased 65 per cent, 
from $134,000,000 in 1894 to $223,000,000 in 1905. In 
ten years the exports of Argentine have increased 100 per 
cent, from $116,000,000 in 1895 to $312,000,000 in 1905. 
This is a remarkable increase, but it is only the first-fruits 
of her rubber forests, coffee plantations, mineral deposits, 
and farms; while many important resources of wealth 
have not yet been touched. 

The other countries of the South offer like opportuni- 
ties. Cuba is highly adapted for raising sugar, fruits, and 
tobacco, while Mexico has large exports of cattle, lumber, 
precious metals, and fibres. All of this vast territory is 
in the first stages of development, and we have but to go, 
for they welcome us with outstretched arms. 

The Panama Canal is our first important step. It will 



128 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

result in a tremendous development of the west coast. 
It will permit us to go into a trade which cannot be prof- 
itable under present conditions. It will place the nitrate 
fields of Chile 3000 miles nearer New York than Liver- 
pool, and will give a proportional advantage in all other 
countries of the west coast. Truly, Latin America alone 
offers a field broad enough to furnish most of our reciprocal 
trade for centuries. 

We have traced the country through its transition, 
from an agricultural and extractive nation to a nation of 
manufactures. We have seen the imperative need of a 
market for our manufactures, and we have examined the 
boundless opportunities at our doors. 

We have next to determine the most desirable form of 
commercial relationship. The past has not been without 
efforts to secure commercial agreements between the 
powers in America, And the only hindrance has been the 
stand-pat protectionists, who consider it a sacrilege to 
move an inch from the old schedules. Since 1890 the 
pressure has been so great that they have been forced to 
recede and have offered treaties of reciprocity as a balm 
to the public wound. The public was rightly sceptical, 
for these insidious and uneconomic treaties are in no wise 
a substitute for free trade, and will never serve to unite 
the nations of America. 

Reciprocity is a relation between two independent 
powers, by which the citizens of each receive commercial 
privileges at the hands of the other. When we consider 
the adoption of any such treaty, we want to know who 
will get the privileges, for it might benefit all the people 
or only a class. The only kind of reciprocity which can 
aid the great mass of people is that which lowers the cost 
of articles used by them in daily life. This leads us to 
differentiate the phases of reciprocity. In the first place, 
reciprocity will not lower prices as long as the goods 



THE UNITED STATES IN PAN-AMERICAN TRADE 129 

imported under the treaty fail to supply the demand. It 
is a principle of sound economics that price is determined 
by the most expensive portion of the supply. Therefore, 
the consumer gets no profit : the benefits of the reduction 
redound to the foreign producer. And in the second place, 
if the country did supply all the demand, but the goods 
had to go through an intermediate stage of manufacture, 
and that manufacturer had a monopoly, he would hold 
up the goods and take out the profits. 

This is no theoretical analysis of the subject, for these 
very principles have many times found concrete illustra- 
tion in our own treaties of reciprocity. Indeed, the Amer- 
ican people are suffering this night from the effects of 
our treaty with Cuba. By the treaty of 1903 Cuban sugar 
comes in at four-fifths the regular duty, but since Cuba 
cannot supply our market,^Europe supplies the deficiency; 
and this European sugar, which pays the full duty, fixes 
the price of all of the sugar in the United States. The 
treaty does not benefit the consumer, but all the profits 
go to the Cuban capitalists. In other words, we paid 
a bounty of $9,200,000 to Cuban planters in 1908. In 
like manner, we gave the Hawaiian planters $12,000,000, 
home producers $20,000,000, and Porto Rican interests 
$6,000,000. The American people paid $101,000,000 
tax on sugar in 1908, but only $ 50,000,000 went into the 
treasury; the other half was paid out as a bounty. 
Surely no such scheme as this can serve to unite the 
American nations. 

Should we despair because these treaties of reciprocity 
have failed ? No ! unless we despair of all economic reform. 
There is a way out of the dilemma, and the only way. We 
must conclude treaties which shall resolve all the nations 
of America into one great commercial union in which 
all the factors shall enjoy free trade with each other. 
The most potential factor in the national prosperity and 



130 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

greatness of the United States is. that trade between the 
sections has been unrestricted. 

How infinitely bettered will be the condition of the 
great mass of people, and how infinitely more prosperous 
and great will be the United States, if she add to her pres- 
ent commerce the commerce of all the Western world ! 



MASTERY OF MIND 
Raphael H. Blakesley 

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 

(An oration delivered at the Commencement Exercises of the George 
Washington University, 1909) 

A few days ago a senior in a Western university called 
upon the president of the institution to consult with him 
regarding his future career. He was well satisfied with 
the interview, but somewhat puzzled over his counsellor's 
parting words, which were as follows, " Young man, not 
only should you seek to overcome your weaknesses, but 
to achieve success you will have to overcome fate and 
conquer destiny." Most of us, I suppose, would have been 
perplexed over the same matter. It is true we are no 
longer troubled with the doctrine of predestination — the 
day of fatalism is passed ; but still that old problem 
remains, the eternal question: "How am I to realize 
my ambition?" 

To this query various answers have been given. We 
see the meteoric rise of men in public life, and view the 
astounding feats of famous financiers; at the same time 
we note the inexplicable failure of those who, to every 
appearance, are equally capable. To some it all seems 
a game of chance, and they explain the phenomenon with 
the one word — luck. Some attribute it to heredity, 
while others study the stars for a solution of the problem, 
claiming that the position of the planets and the influence 
of distant constellations determine the destiny of men. 
The reason usually assigned by the hard-headed business 

131 



132 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

man is aptly expressed in Paderewski's reply to the queen, 
" Practice, more practice, then still more practice." 

But in discarding the more or less superstitious notion 
regarding luck and the influence of the stars, we are in 
danger of the other extreme, a view which is equally 
unsound. Of course, we may not wholly condemn Pade- 
rewski's answer, nor claim that Edison's " perspira- 
tion" theory is altogether erroneous; it may be true that 
genius is ninety-eight per cent application, but the per- 
tinent question follows: Would perspiration ever have 
made the greatest living pianist the inventor of the phono- 
graph ? or, could a dozen hours a day at the piano ever 
have made the " Wizard of Menlo Park" a magician in 
the musical world ? 

No, industry and application are indispensable, but 
they alone are not sufficient; he who relies altogether 
upon pure persistency is in little better position than the 
misguided individual who depends entirely upon genius 
or inspiration. We all possess faculties that never have 
been developed, powers which, if rightly directed, would 
increase our efficiency tenfold; few of us realize, or even 
imagine, the wonderful possibilities in the development 
of our soul forces; but it is these which, more and more, 
nowadays, are occupying the attention, not only of philoso- 
phers and theologians, but of men in every department of 
human affairs. 

Surely we must take notice of the rapidly increasing 
interest in the study and investigation of what has been 
termed the "New Thought." As a wave of prohibition 
sentiment is sweeping over the country, gaining friends 
and acquiring territory in unexpected quarters, so a 
spiritual awakening is making psychologists of hundreds 
of thousands who five years ago would have laughed at 
the idea. The movement is attracting the attention of 
the foremost minds of the day. Leading periodicals are 



MASTERY OF MIND 133 

giving space to the discussion of mental healing, telepathy, 
and other occult phenomena. Some magazines are de- 
voted entirely to the consideration of these subjects, and 
though they could not have existed a few years ago, for 
lack of interest in such matters, now several hundred 
thousand copies are sold every month and eagerly read 
by millions of people. 

In Chicago a business college, recognized as one of the 
foremost institutions of its kind, is now giving its students 
a complete course of instruction in " Business Psychology"; 
the same school in another department devotes a large 
proportion of the lectures to the "Law of Suggestion as 
applied to Salesmanship." Of late, we are beginning to 
hear strange tales of railroad presidents, general managers 
of large corporations, and other prominent men of affairs, 
closing the doors of their private offices a few minutes 
every day for quiet thought and meditation. Some 
believe that herein lies the secret of the success of many 
business enterprises; that through this silent intercourse 
with the unseen forces, new ideas are received and clearer 
insight given, so that apparently insurmountable obstacles 
are overcome, and intricate problems of commercial life 
solved with ease. 

Occultism is no longer a matter of mere theory, or the 
speculation of dreamers; it has passed the "magic and 
mystery" stage, and now rests upon a sound scientific 
basis. In fact, it is fast becoming an intensely practical 
subject, in regard to which no one who really thinks can 
afford to be too sceptical. 

The mind of man has accomplished much in the past; 
achievements in the world of physical science are almost 
beyond belief; yet all this will appear small and insig- 
nificant beside the marvels which the twentieth century 
is bound to bring forth. To the scientist wireless teleg- 
raphy, airships, the telharmonium, and other mechanical 



134 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

and electrical wonders of the present are only the fore- 
runners of far greater triumphs in the future. So the 
almost universal interest now manifested in things occult, 
the position which psychology has taken among the 
sciences, and the recognition of telepathy and kindred 
phenomena as scientific facts indicate that we have 
entered upon an era the like of which never before was 
known, when the dreams of seers and philosophers of all 
ages are coming true, and the limitless possibilities of a 
new field of action will be opened to millions of our 
race. 

And we who stand here with high hopes for the future, 
looking forward with eager eyes to the time when our 
lofty ambitions and exalted ideals shall be realized, must 
fall in line with this new movement if we would accom- 
plish our purpose. Thin air, it is predicted, will form the 
battle-fields of the future; however that may be, it is 
certain that so far as individual effort is concerned, our 
future battles will be fought on the astral and spiritual 
planes; the victory will be his who most skilfully wields 
the weapon of the power of thought — who best under- 
stands the laws and operation of the cosmic forces. 
And he who ignores these and fails to qualify for the 
" coming race" must inevitably suffer disappointment 
and defeat. 

But if we fail, it will be the fault of none other than 
ourselves. In the new field of action there can be no 
combine or monopoly; it is the privilege of every man to 
enter into this higher sphere and acquire the knowledge 
which will enable him to live in harmony with these 
higher laws. Then will he be master of his fate, and rise 
superior to environment and circumstance, exemplifying 
the majesty of man in his rightful estate; then will he 
realize that James Allen was uttering, not mere idle words, 
but a profound scientific truth when he said : — 



MASTERY OF MIND 135 

" You will be what you will to be, 
Let failure find its false content 

In that poor word environment; 
But spirit scorns it and is free. 

"It masters time, it conquers space, 
It cows that boastful trickster, Chance, 

And bid the tyrant Circumstance 
Uncrown and fill a servant's place. 

"The human will, that force unseen, 
The offspring of a deathless Soul, 

Can hew a way to any goal, 
Though walls of granite intervene. 

"Be not impatient in delay, 
But wait as one who understands 

When spirit rises and commands, 
The gods are ready to obey." 

True, we may not soar to these empyrean heights in 
an hour or a day; to rise above the materialism which 
has for so long a time bound us down will require con- 
tinued study and prolonged effort, with not a little sacri- 
fice; but in the end our compensation is sure; and mean- 
while, as another has said, let us realize this: "All our 
pains and misfortunes have come to us by a process of 
undeviating and absolutely perfect law, because we de- 
serve and require them, and by first enduring and then 
understanding them, we will be made stronger, wiser, 
nobler. And when we have fully entered into this reali- 
zation, we shall have the power to mould our own cir- 
cumstances, to transmute all evil into good," and follow- 
ing the old college president's advice, we shall "overcome 
fate and conquer destiny." 



THE SOLID SOUTH 
John Freeman 

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS 

(An oration delivered in a prize oratorical contest at the University of 
Arkansas during the Commencement Exercises of 1909) 

There has never been a time in our history that a great 
problem did not confront our people. More than three 
hundred years ago our nation had its beginning in the 
settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. Troubles began to 
come before the settlement was well planted, and it took 
the powerful hand of John Smith to meet the difficulties 
and solve the problems. When this colony had grown 
into childhood, another problem came up which the child 
had to solve in the hard school of war. " Taxation without 
representation" was the issue. The question was fought 
out. America won and from that great struggle the 
child emerged in young manhood, — free and independent. 
But as the youth encounters problems when he leaves 
his parent's protection, so did the young America encoun- 
ter problems. A system of government had to be made. 
The war debt had to be paid, and many other questions 
had to be dealt with. Slowly and surely they were met 
and conquered. One by one the serious difficulties were 
met and overcome by the masterful minds of young 
American statesmen. The nation was fast developing 
into strong and stalwart manhood when another problem 
appeared, one that had been growing and grounding 
itself in our national politics since the beginning of our 

136 



THE SOLID SOUTH 137 

nation's existence. That question was the problem of the 
Solid South. 

That which caused the forming of the Solid South was 
the slave question. It is a strange coincidence that this 
question had its origin in the first colony that was founded. 
When the settlers at Jamestown bought their first cargo 
of slaves, they little dreamed of what would be the result. 
They struck the match to the fire which smoked so long 
before it blazed forth in the great struggle between the 
states. 

It would be folly for me to repeat the details of the 
struggle that came up over the slave question. The 
great battles that were fought, the vast amount of prop- 
erty that was destroyed, the great number of brave 
men who sacrificed their lives for what they thought 
right, — all these are well-known facts to every student of 
American history. This war had a more vital effect on 
our nation than that caused by the loss of men and prop- 
erty. It united into one solid body the states of the 
South. It broke the bonds of union that had caused the 
thirteen colonies to hold so closely together during the 
Revolution. It snapped the already weakened cord of 
national unity and left us two sections, the conquering 
North and a despoiled South. 

This breach might have been mended, and the South 
might not have been so solidly united, had it not been for 
the dark days which followed the war. Had the noble- 
minded Lincoln lived and carried out his policies, the 
Solid South might have been to-day an unknown thing 
in our national politics. 

But we are not to deal with mere conjectures. We only 
know that his policies were not carried out. Hostile 
legislation followed the defeat of the Southern states. 
Reconstruction days followed, with all their burdens and 
humiliations. The states which had been drawn so closely 



138 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

together during the war were now more closely united. 
Only one stroke was needed to make the South solid, and 
that came when the sanctity of the home was threatened 
by the freed negro. Then it was that the presence of the 
awful spectre of negro domination caused the formation 
of a new army — the Kuklux Klan. Then it was that 
the final stroke was given, and the Solid South became 
an assured fact. It became a national question, for the 
nation began to realize that the struggle between the 
sections was not ended. 

The fact that the Solid South is the product of a national 
struggle makes it a national problem, but it takes more 
than that to make it the important question that it is. 
It is the retarding influence that it is having on our na- 
tional progress and unity that is causing our statesmen 
to open their eyes to the necessity of ridding the Union 
of this hindrance. Our country can never be a firmly 
united country as long as the Mason and Dixon's line 
exists. As long as the statesmen of the South are united 
against those of the North, our country cannot be a unit. 
If we are not a unit, we cannot hope to progress as rapidly 
as we should. As the great Lincoln so prophetically said, 
"A house divided against itself cannot stand; slavery 
must go, for the nation will not." So we may look upon 
the Solid South. The strength of the nation depends upon 
the breaking down of all divisions, and sectional feeling 
must be cast aside. The question has ceased to be a 
small one. Born as it was at the beginning of our nation's 
existence, it has grown as our country has grown. It has 
now reached a point where it is hindering our national 
progress, and where it is impossible for our country to be 
firmly united. It has come to be a question for our 
wisest statesmen to ponder, and the Solid South must be 
met by the Union and turned into a part of a solid 
nation. 



THE SOLID SOUTH 139 

This problem affects neither the nation nor the North 
as vitally as it does the South. The people of the North 
have a majority of representatives in our national law- 
making body, and so our politicians seldom have a decid- 
ing vote in our favor. The South suffers unconsciously, 
while her sister states in the North look on and wish to 
help her. Our great-hearted President has studied the 
question, and in a speech in New York City said, "I be- 
lieve the North yearns for a closer association with the 
South, that its citizens deprecate that reserve on the sub- 
ject of politics which so long has been maintained in the 
otherwise delightful social relations between Southerners 
and Northerners." 

There has never been as strong a feeling of sectionalism 
in the North as there has in the South. The people there 
were not fighting for a section, but for a Union. Then a 
vast number of foreigners have settled in the Northern 
states since that great struggle, and as they know nothing 
of the bitterness caused by the war, they have no sectional 
prejudice whatever. The people of the North have about 
lived it down, and when the people of the South give up 
prejudices and show their brothers in the North that 
they are ready to open their doors to Northern progress, 
the era of one-sided affairs in the South will end. Then 
will the South take on new life, and new blood will be in- 
fused in her veins. Immigrants will turn from the con- 
gested districts of the North and begin to settle on the 
cheaper and more fertile lands of the South. They will 
begin to stop at our Southern ports and fill up our Southern 
cities with laborers that are so necessary in great manu- 
facturing industries. Then will Birmingham rival Pitts- 
burg in the output of iron and steel. Our Southern 
cities will surpass those of New England in the variety 
and cheapness of their cotton goods. New Orleans will 
have a better trade, and, when the Panama Canal has been 



140 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

finished, will rival New York City in the amount and 
value of her commerce. 

We might very well afford to do without immigrants 
if that were the only thing of which the Solid South de- 
prives us. There are graver problems to be dealt with 
than the lack of laborers. There are things which the 
prosperity of our Southland depends upon as much as 
upon the establishment of great manufacturing enterprises. 
We need more suitable legislation. We cannot hope to 
rise to our greatest point of prosperity until we can secure 
legislation that will be more conducive to our growth and 
welfare. It is a serious problem, and one that must be 
faced squarely. 

When tariffs are placed on imports, what section of the 
country usually is most favored? Do Southern indus- 
tries ever receive the protection that their competitors in 
the North do ? It is very evident to those who study 
our tariffs that they are made in favor of Northern indus- 
tries. Even now an effort is being made to increase the 
tariff on the finer cotton goods that are made in the North 
and reduce it on the coarser goods that are made in the 
South. The politicians of the North realize that cotton 
goods can be made more cheaply in the South than in the 
North, and in order to keep the Solid South from monop- 
olizing the business, they will not give them an advan- 
tage by making the tariffs just. This is true not only in 
the manufacturing industries, but in all the industries of 
the South. Our mines are undeveloped because favorable 
legislation cannot be secured. Many of our resources 
are unimproved because our Southern statesmen will 
not make a break in the policy of a Solid South in order 
to secure concessions from their colleagues of the North. 

Gentlemen, can we afford to allow our resources to 
remain idle on account of a feeling that should have been 
dead long ago ? Is it better for the people of this genera- 



THE SOLID SOUTH 141 

tion to hand down to posterity a Solid South, with all its 
prejudices and unpatriotic feelings, than to leave them a 
South in which industries have begun to grow and prosper 
and where there is nothing to mar the unity between them 
and their brothers of the North ? As soon as the states 
of the South are willing to give up so much prejudice and 
allow their representatives in Congress more freedom 
of action, we can expect more just legislation. 

There are doubtless many people in the South who are 
such loyal sons of Dixie that they are unwilling to give 
up their prejudices even for an increase in our industrial 
and commercial development, and a more just treatment 
at the hands of our national law-making body. There 
is still another reason that should appeal to them. If we 
dissolve the Solid South, our sectional problems will be- 
come national problems. 

There are two great problems that confront our section 
to-day, — the question of prohibition and the question of 
the negro. History has shown us that we cannot solve 
them ourselves, and we must turn to other places for help. 

The question of prohibition is not such an old issue as 
that of the negro, yet it is becoming a very important one. 
Another decade will see the South a prohibition South, 
but it will not be a dry South. We cannot have absolute 
prohibition as long as the common carriers are allowed 
to ship whiskey into prohibition territory. We, as a 
section, may not have a saloon, yet the liquor will be here 
in sufficient quantities to keep things pretty wet. We 
cannot have genuine prohibition until we make it a na- 
tional question. We must secure such laws as will make 
the place of delivery of liquors the place of sale, and to do 
this we have got to break up our solid representation in 
the South and meet the North fairly and squarely. Then 
when we have secured such a measure, we can step away 
from home, join forces with the temperance people in the 



142 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

North and West, and rid forever our country from the 
curse of the saloon. 

The other question concerns us more vitally. It is the 
negro question that has held the Southern states together. 
It was the negro that caused the first dividing line to be 
drawn between the North and South. It was the negro 
that caused the first feeling of bitterness to exist between 
our law-makers. It was the negro that made a South 
possible, and it was the modern, freed negro that caused 
us to have a Solid South. Can any one blame Southerners 
for guarding against a repetition of the dark days during 
reconstruction, when the negro held sway? No right- 
thinking person will blame the South for being solid on 
this question. Yet, is it best for the South? Has the 
time not come when the South should turn this question 
over to the nation and let it become a national problem ? 
The question is beginning to solve itself. Unfavorable 
legislation in the South is causing many negroes to leave, 
and as they go to the Northern states, they carry their 
problems with them. The states of the North have al- 
ready found out what the negro question is. They ap- 
preciate the situation in the South, and as soon as the 
negro votes of the South cease to be needed, laws will be 
passed to aid the South in dealing with him. 

They have felt the effects of the black hand. They 
have had to deal with the black vagabond. They have 
had bloody race riots, and they have felt that thrill of 
horror that must pass through every man's soul on hearing 
of the desecration of the home by a black brute. Their 
hearts are open, and, as President Taft has said, they are 
ready to receive their share of this great burden. The 
negro question is a question for the nation to solve, and 
the sooner we break the Solid South and let the nation 
have this problem, the sooner will we be freed from its 
evil effects. 



THE SOLID SOUTH 143 

And now, ladies and gentlemen, what shall we do 
with this question ? Born as it was at the very beginning 
of our nation's existence, has it grown so strong that we 
cannot solve it ? Is it not time for us to turn the bonds 
that bind us into a Solid South into the bonds of a more 
Solid Union ? The past is gone, and it cannot be recalled. 
Let the feelings die with it. We can honor the heroes of 
that great struggle as well from the standpoint of the 
nation as from that of a section. Are there not greater 
things to strive for than the preservation of a sectional 
pride? Would not Robert E. Lee take the South and 
give it that place of distinction which it held before the 
war ? Where are the great men of the South who used 
to fill the President's chair and make the halls of the capi- 
tol ring with their eloquence ? They are tied down by 
sectional bonds that hold them away from what they 
should have. Where is that feeling of patriotism in the 
South that causes the Northern man to remove his hat 
when our flag is being lowered from its pole ? It is smother- 
ing under a spirit of sectional pride and old-aged preju- 
dice that are kept alive by a Solid South. 

May the day soon come when the Solid South will be 
no more, when her people will be on an equal footing 
with their brothers in the North, when just legislation 
can be had by all, when Southern problems will become 
national problems, when the " Star-spangled Banner" 
will be sung by a mighty chorus of eighty million loyal 
voices, when " Dixie " and " Yankee Doodle " will form a 
medley that will be cheered by audiences in all parts of 
our country, and when there will be nothing to block the 
wheels of progress in this our Sunny Southland. 



THE POET SHELLEY 
Charles Mossman McLean 

HAMILTON COLLEGE 
(Awarded the Clark Prize in Oratory, 1909) 

Some of the world's great men we understand. Their 
lives are the fruitage of continuous and well-ordered 
labor conforming to exactly ascertainable laws. They are 
shining examples of human intelligence and human will 
exercising their influence upon the growth of mankind. 
But there are others who baffle us, who confound our 
laws and subvert our ideas of causality, seeming mediums 
of a divine Presence which irradiates the world. Those 
we call men of genius, and none of them is more mysterious 
than Percy Bysshe Shelley. 

Shelley was a poet consecrated to a purpose. Poesy 
to his mind involved sacred responsibilities. The poet 
must " redeem from decay the visitations of divinity in 
men"; he must immortalize in verse the out-flashing of 
that highest power which moves in secret through the sor- 
did world. Not Moses at Mount Horeb's foot felt more 
directly summoned to lead God's chosen people than did 
Shelley to exhort and uplift faltering humanity. While 
yet a boy, he tells us, he had stood rapt before a vision 
of "Intellectual Beauty" that suddenly illumined his 
mind. 

" I . . . clasped my hands in ecstasy. 
I vowed that I would dedicate my powers 
To thee and thine." 

144 



THE POET SHELLEY 145 

Obedient to his spirit's call, this " changeling of faery" 
began his task. He fought his windmills. Long, in 
prose and didactic verse, the apprentice wrought. At 
last he sang his master songs, sang in such exquisite har- 
monies as were wafted on the attenuate ether of immortal 
fields. 

Never before had language been so quickened by the 
skill of man. Words seem not to be the banal currency 
of thought, but thought itself, refined by flame. Scenes 
are presented in changing fantasy : they play like North- 
ern Lights, they move in a lyrical flux and flow, until 
deluded by the dazzling mutability of it all, many have 
denied that this Proteus is in essence a prophet, and, like 
Arnold, have exclaimed in scorn, " beautiful and ineffec- 
tual angel, beating in vain his luminous wings upon the 
void." 

Yet beneath this mobile and often mystic play of form 
can be heard the roll of major strains. He was no vain 
aesthete, but a man dominated by a " passion for reforming 
the world." If he sang in rapturous verse, it was the 
lark's golden melody, spontaneous and undesigned. But 
he was also an avatar of freedom and love, bringing his 
message from the skies to a stubborn and unheeding age. 

The French Revolution had passed. England had felt 
its creative force, and in the beginning had lent it sym- 
pathy. But when this force by its excess had disappointed 
its promise, and when France, a holocaust of unbridled 
passion, had been thrown prostrate at Napoleon's feet, 
the Anglo-Saxon soul recoiled. The ardor and hope of 
the preceding decades yielded to unprogressive orthodoxy. 
To this England it was that Shelley brought a message. 

He was the living voice of revolution. Profoundly 
believing in the perfectibility of man, he would bring by 
quick revolt an age of ideal anarchy. He would animate 
men with noble desire. With the lightning of his ardor 



146 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

he would rive the veil of the mundane so that others might 
see the transcendent ideal which he saw, — that ideal for 
which he longed and lived and strove with all his being. 
Then men should fling aside the gyves of tradition and 
tyranny; authority should be no more, but man should 

remain 

" Sceptreless, free, uncircumscribed, 
. . . tribeless and nationless, 
Exempt from awe, worship, degree." 

The slow process of evolution was not enough for his 
hectic imagination. He would have a mighty cataclysm, 
and as from the ashes of the Phoenix of old arose a new 
creature, so from the ruins of revolution should arise a 
new estate, — an estate more golden in its ideality than the 
Saturnian age and richer in its conception than the mil- 
lennium of Isaiah. Not blood but ichor coursed his veins, 
for he would consummate with a nod the work of weary 
centuries. 

His impassioned appeal stirs us like the jubilant note of 
the Marseillaise. Who could remain unmoved by that 
trumpet call to the men of England ? 

" Men of England, heirs of glory, 
Heroes of unwritten story, 
Nurslings of one mighty mother, 
Hopes of her and one another, 
In unvanquishable number, 
Shake your chains to earth like dew 
Which in sleep had fallen on you, 
Ye are many, they are few." 

But, alas, at times his devotion to freedom became his 
sin. For this devotion begat hatred, not only of au- 
thority, but of all restraint. The boy who at Eton had 
rebelled against fagging was the man to whom tradition 
was tyranny and power, a thing abhorred. And so he 
paints the Jupiter of his " Prometheus Unbound," arch 
enemy of mankind, as the embodiment of all those effete 



THE POET SHELLEY 147 

customs which "heavy as frost" blight human progress. 
He whose spirit had ranged the empyrean and dwelt in 
the fastnesses of untrammelled thought could but loathe 
all that debased or hampered. It is small wonder that, 
in the vehemence of his zeal, he jarred the sensibilities of 
even the most liberal-minded. His fervor overleaped 
itself, and he often repulsed those whom he desired to 
win. He was the youthhood of the world, original, 
untempered, regardless of offence, if only the way be the 
quickest, alone mindful of the lofty goal toward which 
it pressed with all the spirit and impetuosity of its years. 
His lofty hopes for humanity were built upon belief 
in the power of love. He, who would not bow to the 
tenets of a decadent theology, has been called atheist. 
Yet emanating from Shelley's poetry is universal love, 
the love which upraises and redeems the world. Whose 
faith in man was ever more simple, whose belief in ideals 
more uncompromising, whose vision more exalted ? Too 
free to accept religion through its traditions, his delicate 
fibre yet responded to the inmost harmony of nature. 
Scorning to name the Invisible, he tells us in breathless 
verse of the All-pervading Spirit : — 

" The deep truth is imageless. 
For what would it avail to bid thee gaze 
On the revolving world ? What to bid speak, 
Fate, Time, Occasion, Chance and Change ? To these 
All things are subject but eternal love." 

This love was not only in the hearts of men, but welled up 
through them from cosmic springs. Diffused throughout 
the universe, impregnating every " atom's atom," he felt 
the presence of a divine Being, — a Being obscured by the 
flash which " strains the white radiance of eternity," but 
an One whom he conceives in inexpressible purity and with 
whose essence the spirits of the noble were at last com- 
mingled. 



148 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

His contemporaries would not condone his heresies. 
They did not see that his attack against religion was 
against its Phariseeism, and not against its truths. They 
vented their wrath upon the callow teachings of " Queen 
Mao," an outcast work of his tender years; but also the 
best of him they heaped with obloquy. Yet his was an 
old, old message. If his ideals were visionary and his 
teachings vain, "he erred with a greater than Plato." 

What a tragedy it is to be born before one's age ! What 
is life without sympathy, or labor without appreciation ? 
And yet thus it has ever been with the forerunners of 
progress. They slave in men's service; their reward is 
calumny. They outwatch the stars in their search for 
truth; their wages is scorn. They foretell the brighter 
day in return for exile and loneliness. What does it 
avail Shelley that present-day critics find in him the purest 
of Christianity and a true oracle of human advancement; 
of what avail to him who must wander a pariah among 
the Alpine lakes and Euganean hills, robbed of his children, 
detested of man, a "rare prodigy of crime and pollution"; 
of what avail to him who had given so lavishly to every 
class and creed; to him who could number as his faithful 
friends but three ? Where is the recompense of posthu- 
mous laurels ? 

He accepted his fate unbewailing. It was the mystery 
of his genius that he could bear the buffets of unkindly 
fate without flinching. Not disgrace, nor exile, nor slan- 
der, nor all the woe-laden clouds of human vicissitude can 
obscure the loftier star of those who dwell upon the sum- 
mits. With dauntless faith he continued his labors upon 
alien shores. Each year he worked with greater skill 
and wisdom until, even at the threshold of maturity, the 
sea called him to its bosom. 

Shelley is a great poet, but he dared be more than poet, 
he was a seer. His prophesies are fulfilling now by slow 



THE POET SHELLEY 149 

degrees. Wherever oppression had been overcome, or 
ignorance dispelled, or trespasses forgiven, is being realized 
his glowing ideal. Time has not yet settled his place in 
literature, but still the great West Wind 

" Scatters, as from an unextinguished hearth, 
Ashes and sparks, his words among mankind." 



THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL 
Peter I. Lawton 

BATES COLLEGE 

(Awarded second place in the Junior Oratorical Contest of Bates College, 

1909) 

The anniversary of Patriots' Day, in the tenderness and 
inspiration of its memories, gathers around it year by year 
a deeper significance and a more potent meaning for every 
American who loves his native land. In the words of the 
orator Everett, more than fourscore years ago, "It is a 
commemoration of our soil to which ages as they pass 
will add dignity and interest till the names of Lexington 
and Concord in the annals of freedom will stand by the 
side of the most honorable names in Roman or Grecian 
story." 

When one speaks to us of the Nineteenth of April, that 
memorable day on which the first battles of the American 
Revolution were fought, our thoughts fly back through 
the long vista of years to the spring of 1775. How our 
pulses quicken as the picture rises to our minds ! We seem 
to stand beneath low-lying storm clouds that are massed 
against a grim and leaden sky, while we await the roll and 
crash of thunder and the ragged gleams of lightning soon 
to flash upon the dark and tragic days of war. All words 
of conciliation, all measures of peace, are borne away 
forever on the rushing blast. The scene stands out most 
vividly; we feel the hush before the storm, and we know 
that it presages the approach of one of the most momen- 
tous crises in the history of human affairs. Will you 

150 



THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL 151 

bear with me while I tell you how that crisis was hastened 
on ? You know the story well, but it can never lose in- 
terest or grow old, and it thrills your hearts to-day as it 
did in childhood long ago. 

On the night of the eighteenth of April General Gage, 
commander-in-chief of the British forces, then stationed 
in the town of Boston, hoping to crush the spirit of rebel- 
lion among the American colonists by a decisive blow, 
determined to march under cover of darkness to the town 
of Lexington, and to capture the arch rebels, John Hancock 
and Samuel Adams, on whose heads the British crown 
had set a price. He resolved, also, to seize the military 
stores which the Americans in preparation for war were 
known to have collected in the town of Concord. 

The expedition, though carefully concealed, did not es- 
cape the vigilance of the patriot spies. The Americans 
immediately hung signal lights in the belfry of the Old 
North Church to warn the surrounding towns of the Brit- 
ish march, and they despatched two of their number, 
William Dawes and Colonel Paul Revere, to bear the 
tidings through the towns of Middlesex and to rouse the 
countryside to arms. 

When the news reached Lexington, the Minute Men 
were summoned from their homes. With wildly beating 
hearts and anxious faces they assembled on the green, 
where, beneath the stars, as the hours slowly passed, 
they awaited the on-coming of their foes, — awaited the 
dawning of their day of blood with no less heroic forti- 
tude and courage than did Leonidas and his Spartan 
followers await the Persian hosts at old Thermopylae. 
There, on the green, the British found them in the 
grayness of the dawn, a handful of Yankee farmers who 
dared with steadfast mien to challenge the advance of a 
trained and veteran army. The command " Disperse, ye 
rebels, and lay down your arms " fell upon unheeding 



152 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

ears. With mingled threats and curses the order came 
to fire. The British troops obeyed, but no patriot fell, 
and the British fired again. A second time the roar of 
musketry awoke the echoes of the morning, and when 
the thick smoke cleared away, the ranks of the Americans 
were strewn with dead. 

Again the picture rises to our minds, but now the storm 
of conflict has broken, the thunder booms and peals along 
the heavens, the lightning seams and opens wide the dark 
abysses of the skies, and we know that for seven long 
years the land we love will be drenched with blood ! 
Yet, with prophetic vision, we may exclaim, like the 
patriot Adams in the exaltation of his lofty soul, "Oh, 
what a glorious morning is this!" It was the most glori- 
ous morning, my countrymen, in the history of our land, 
for it was upon the faces of those heroes lying still in death 
upon that blood-reddened green that the sunshine of 
American liberty first shed its glorious rays. The dawn- 
ing of the Nineteenth of April marks the dawning of a 
greater and a grander day in the annals of world freedom. 

The spirit that filled those heroic souls at Lexington 
found a response in the hearts of the men of Concord; 
and hours later, while the British were sullenly retreating 
in defeat to the shelter of the warships at Boston, that 
spirit was winging its way throughout the entire North 
and South into every town and hamlet in the land. 

Later that spirit stood amid the smoke and flame of 
Bunker Hill; it led the patriots as they crossed the icy 
Delaware with Washington at Trenton, and marched 
with bleeding feet over snow-covered fields to the hard- 
ships and privations of that dreary winter at Valley Forge; 
it nerved them to bear with unfaltering courage the re- 
verses of Quebec, Long Island, and the Brandy wine; 
once more it stood in glory at Saratoga, Bennington, and 
the bloody battle ground of Princeton; and rose, at last, 



THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL 153 

to immortality at Yorktown, in glorious triumph over 
suffering and death. 

We are sons and daughters of New England. Lexing- 
ton and Concord are ours. Oh, it should thrill your souls, 
my friends, to realize that the same blood which beat in 
the veins of the men who fought and fell upon those em- 
battled fields beats in yours. It is our privilege to-day 
to come and stand beside the mounds where long ago the 
bodies of those noble men were laid at rest. And so 
we come with hearts united by the mystic chords of 
reverence and love to strew upon the earth above their 
sacred dust a myriad of the roses and the lilies of June. 

The men of Lexington and Concord are no more; they 
sleep in peace amid the silence of the Aftermath Profound, 
but dead, their voiceless tongues speak words of living 
fire through all the years. The voice of our fathers' 
dust speaks to us from the grave, adjuring us faithfully 
to preserve and to transmit the priceless heritage they 
have bequeathed. The future of our country is in our 
hands. God grant that we and those who shall come 
after us may prove worthy of the sacred trust. 



ETHICS IN AMERICAN PUBLIC LIFE 
Elmer W. K. Mould 

UNION COLLEGE 
(First Prize Oration in the Blatchford Oratorical Contest, 1909) 

Ethics in American public life! Principles of morality 
in business, law, public service, politics! A dream! Oh, 
it is a good subject for an academic discussion, or a dis- 
course from the pulpit or lecture platform. But it does 
not get much farther. Public life in this country wants 
practical men who can get there on the policy of " Every 
man for himself." In fact, precepts of morality are chiefly 
conspicuous in our public life for their want of application. 
There is no time or place for ethical considerations where 
great problems which affect deeply the interests of in- 
dividuals and nation are pressing for solution. So the 
men of affairs tell us. But we do not agree. 

It is an easy matter for pessimists to gather statistics 
which, if superficially considered, are discouraging. In- 
stance after instance can be found of the prostitution of 
representative power to selfish advantage. Widened 
opportunities for the play of selfishness and the increase 
of temptations which follow in the wake of our complex 
life give rise to an appalling number of public wrongs, 
whose many victims voice an undying protest against cor- 
ruption and an appeal to Christian statesmanship. There 
are extremes of avarice and corrupt and unfair dealings 
giving rise to unwholesome spectacles of exploitation and 
infidelity to trust. Gambling parades in business livery, 
and dishonest and oppressive practices bar honest rivals 

154 



ETHICS IN AMERICAN PUBLIC LIFE 155 

from equal opportunities and thrust them out of the way 
or destroy them. Justice is subverted and the law em- 
ployed to shield the guilty who exploit the rights of the 
people in the interests of a few. Public offices have been 
made agencies for swelling bank accounts. Political 
leaders have been clearing-houses for legislation, and pose 
as party workers while serving under a retainer of special 
interests. Government is employed to promote selfish 
interests at the expense of the members of the community. 
Truly the pessimists can draw for us a depressing picture. 

Yet we should form a very inaccurate judgment of moral 
conditions in public life by considering these wrongs alone. 
We must not omit to emphasize the increasing intensity 
of the desire to find remedies, the earnestness with which 
all forms of evil and oppression are attacked. We must 
not fail to note the vital regard of the people for virtue and 
sobriety. We must judge ethical conditions by what 
the people condemn and refuse to tolerate in concrete 
cases. We must emphasize efforts for reform, and the 
onward march of the people toward the realization of 
ideals of self-government. 

We ought not and we do not wish to blink any evil or 
gloss over any wrong. Our public life is far from perfect. 
But there is no occasion for misgiving. Pessimism and 
cynicism will not right the wrong or develop the country. 
The most significant teaching of our nation's history is 
that whatever has been permanent and abiding has been 
founded ultimately in ethics. This inspires a just confi- 
dence, — a confidence which ignores no wrong, but accepts 
honestly the present conditions, a confidence which ap- 
preciates the moral strength of the people, a confidence 
inspired by visions of the forces of right, that there will 
be no rest until every vestige of special favor shall have 
perished and our government in reality become demo- 
cratic. 



156 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

The American people will not rest until honesty and 
square dealing are dominant, until ethical considerations 
form the basis of every act in public life. Progress will be 
slow, but it will be steady and certain. The moral de- 
velopment of public life will keep pace with, never precede, 
the moral development of the members of the body poli- 
tic. Therefore attention must be paid to the heightening 
of moral sentiment among the people, from whom must 
be drawn the men who shall conduct public affairs. 

The chief need in our day is better education in morals 
and more of it. It is the business of the church to spread 
ethical ideas. The church must be alive to present con- 
ditions and continually point the way through a multitude 
of conflicting tendencies to the right. On our schools 
and colleges rests the stability of the nation. So long as 
they are filled we need entertain no grave apprehension. 
Widened opportunities for learning and for the spread of 
intelligence make for better living and higher standards 
of conduct. There is need in our day that the schools pay 
greater attention to education in ethics. We have insti- 
tutions where young men are trained for public life, and 
various solutions presented for the complex problems of 
public life. We must insist that these institutions teach 
that ethical considerations lie at the bottom of all such 
problems, and that they shall apply ethics in the solutions 
they present for concrete cases. We must insist that the 
press and other agencies for the dissemination of informa- 
tion shall stop all appeals to passion, and use the means 
at their command to acquaint the people with the de- 
mands of reason. 

The cry " Every man for himself" is out of date. The 
demand now is " Every man for the people." Only as 
this is heeded in the business of the nation can we hope to 
put an end to unfair practices, unjustifiable preferences, 
and oppressive dealings. Only when the demands of 



ETHICS IN AMERICAN PUBLIC LIFE 157 

ethics are obeyed can the nation hope for a prosperity 
that will be stable and abiding. 

The legal profession is often sharply condemned for 
the lack of ethical principles in the platforms of its mem- 
bers. For a young man to enter this profession indicates 
to many a self-seeking and unscrupulous character. But 
lawyers of uprightness and integrity are more numer- 
ous than heretofore. There is, perhaps, no profession 
which in our day offers so great opportunities for disin- 
terested service as law, and none in which the people will 
so much appreciate men of moral backbone and single- 
minded devotion to duty. 

In politics we reach the field of the most subtle tempta- 
tions and the most widespread abuses of public rights. 
But this is no reason to stand aside and lament. The 
call to-day is "Get in and fight." The people must have 
leadership. Parties must have effective organization to 
advance principles. But the petty schemes of political 
manipulators for victory and the spoils of office must 
inevitably pass from our public life. The people have 
become intolerant of political abuses. The nation pays 
its final homage to those men of inflexible purpose and 
fidelity to conscience who without reserve devote their 
talents to the service of the people. 

But we have no patience with those reckless and selfish 
agitators who seek to make discontent serve self-interest, 
who seek to create class hatred, who distort the good 
and exaggerate the evil. There are some who, under the 
guise of conservatism, seek to protect those who have 
betrayed the public interest, and to block efforts for reme- 
dial action. There are others who think, or rather with- 
out thinking, assume that any course at all is better than 
what we now have, and therefore are continually making 
passionate appeals for change, careless of the interests 
that would be sacrificed by the measures they inconsider- 



158 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

ately propose or defend. The nation will not tolerate 
either. The people call for fair play. 

Great questions of public life, such as tariff legislation, 
restriction of immigration, regulation of industry, and 
control of corporations, and the like, can be solved satis- 
factorily only by careful and intelligent action preceded by 
thorough study of facts, and founded upon eternal prin- 
ciples of the right. 

In public service the people demand and must have a 
larger voice in the selection of candidates for office, and 
a recognition on the part of those chosen of their represen- 
tative responsibility. There are too many posing as the 
people's choice who are in reality agents for particular 
business interests or factota of political bosses. They 
will quickly pass from the notoriety they temporarily 
achieve. The nation is jealous of its ideals, and never 
demanded more than it does now the upright adminis- 
tration of public affairs. In the words of the governor 
of this state, "The security of our government ... is 
found in the intelligence and public spirit of its citizens 
and its ability to call to the work of administration men 
of single-minded devotion to the public interests, who 
make unselfish service to the state a point of knightly 
honor." 

Only as American public life is conducted on principles 
of ethics will the nation march on to the realization of the 
state as a brotherhood. 



CHARACTER AND POLITICS 
George B. Compton 

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

(Awarded first prize in competition for the Curtis Medals for excellence 
in public speaking, 1909) 

In conversation one day a Hindu doctor of laws was 
glorifying the primitive civilization of India. " Would 
you then," asked his American companion, "wish to see 
the English withdraw, and leave India to take care of 
itself ? " "No!" he replied, " the English do police duty, 
and they do it very well, thus leaving the native popula- 
tion at leisure for higher things." This view of govern- 
ment as a police function which may be left to politicians, 
while the ordinary citizens are attending to their private 
affairs, is not confined to India. It is a natural enough 
conception in India, where the Englishman rules and the 
native races are his subjects, but it is wholly out of place 
in America, where the Constitution guarantees to us the 
privilege of governing ourselves. Instead of a true de- 
mocracy, however, with every man taking some part in 
the administration of public affairs, we have, on the one 
side, an oligarchy of rulers and, on the other, a vast body 
of mere subjects. Thus the very idea of democracy, the 
idea that every man shall be a ruler, the idea that there 
shall be no governing class in this country, is defeated. 
Yet there is no higher honor, no greater dignity to be won 
by any man than that won by public service. 

The weakness of our democratic system is the political 
apathy of the masses, and the cause of political apathy 

159 



160 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

is personal selfishness. Personal selfishness is ignoble, 
because only a few men are big enough to be selfish in- 
telligently. If every man could know absolutely what is 
best for him, and if he should conscientiously allow his 
own intelligence to be his guide, society would benefit; 
for society is a combination of individuals. But such is 
not the case. Nowhere is the poor judgment of the aver- 
age man displayed more painfully than in his neglect of 
the plain duties of citizenship. He realizes that a public 
office is a public trust, but he does not realize that every 
voter in America holds a public office, he does not realize 
that as an office-holder himself he is a trustee for the non- 
voter and for future generations, nor does he realize that 
if he refuses or neglects to fulfill the duties of his office he 
is a recreant trustee, — recreant to his own children and 
to their children. He is under an obligation to hand 
down to them a legacy of the best educational systems, 
of pure homes, and of clean political administration. 
Past generations have bequeathed to the present such 
names as Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Hamilton, dear 
to every Columbia man, Webster, Clay, and Garfield, — 
names that stand for resolution, individuality, rectitude 
of purpose, and moral integrity, names that stand for 
character. Because these great political leaders were 
statesmen, we think we can have nothing in common 
with them. This is a grave mistake. If we are willing 
to work as hard as they, we can accomplish just as much 
in our local sphere as they did in the national political 
field. Every citizen, alive to his political responsibili- 
ties, ought to have the moral caliber of a statesman; 
mental caliber varies widely in different individuals, but 
moral caliber in its application to politics can be and 
should be very nearly uniform. 

We Americans ought to put more insistence upon 
individual moral quality in ourselves. One of the most 



CHARACTER AND POLITICS 161 

characteristic vices of our American life is our impatient 
eagerness to get great results from little labor. It is the 
cause of our speculative fever, and the same spirit pre- 
vails in our politics. We expect honesty, economy, 
efficiency, in our public service, but we do not want them 
enough to pay the price for them. The necessity of 
preaching to men, decent and upright in private business, 
the doctrine of morality as applied to public affairs, is a sad 
comment on American politics. Why do we not realize 
that to sin against the commonwealth is an even greater 
offence than to sin against an individual ? Hundreds of 
persons who would not dream of defrauding an individual 
will dishonestly swear off taxes or cheat Uncle Sam out of 
customs duties without a single qualm of conscience. 
If we ourselves maintain this attitude toward our public 
obligations, can we reasonably expect a higher standard 
in our representatives in office ? No, we cannot. And 
when we realize the full significance of this fact, we shall 
be thoroughly frightened at the present-day tendency 
in politics toward a mercenary ideal. Frequently public 
office is placed upon a commercial basis. Many a man 
who is earning more in his private business than he could 
get out of a public office disdains the office, and even 
has a feeling of contempt for the man who accepts it. In 
view of the situation this is perfectly natural, for when- 
ever anything essentially fine and noble is put upon a 
mercenary basis, it is defiled and degraded. The best 
things in life have no money expression, — certainly no 
money equivalent. We would not venture to put a price 
on courage, or honor, or truth, or Christian faith. So 
it is with public office and public duty. It is a shameful 
fact that public office is looked upon to-day as a means of 
personal aggrandizement. You and I condone this situa- 
tion because we are either too lazy or too blindly self- 
centred to kick against it. It is clear, therefore, that a 



162 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

good citizen — whether he is holding public office him- 
self or whether he is doing his simple duty by supporting 
some other capable man in office — a good citizen always 
acts disinterestedly and with a sincere purpose to serve, 
not his own pocketbook, but the whole commonwealth. 

In every community there is a crying need of men who 
are willing to take a hand in civic affairs, not for the graft 
or the glory there is in it, but in a purely unselfish and pa- 
triotic spirit. In leaving the settlement of public ques- 
tions to professional politicians we are taking a big risk. 
Yet it is worthy of note that there are some men in public 
life to-day to whom a duty is a sacred obligation. Gov- 
ernor Hughes at Albany last year considered it his duty 
to fight against the race-track interests. He fought a 
good fight, and he won. Of course, we can draw from 
such devotion to duty in high official position a lesson for 
ourselves, but how much more strongly is brought home 
to us a realization of our duties as citizens when a man in 
humble office shows a heroic devotion to duty. At the 
close of the anti-gambling fight the entire country rang 
with the name of a man previously unknown. Senator 
Foelker showed a stern fidelity which a Puritan might 
envy, and a devotion which a Cavalier would know how 
to admire. People said he might have anything he wanted, 
but he appeared to be a man who wished, more than 
anything else, the approval of his conscience. How 
badly men of this kind are needed in the rank and file of 
American politics ! 

Principles, however, overshadow even personalities. 
Senator Foelker may drop out of the public eye and Gov- 
ernor Hughes may return to private life, but the politi- 
cal lessons of that wonderful campaign against race-track 
gambling will endure. How truly it has been said that 
there is no force so potent in politics as a moral issue. 
Politicians may scorn it, ambitious men may despise it, 



CHARACTER AND POLITICS 163 

newspapers may caricature it, but still it has a way of 
upsetting the plans and of rendering powerless the most 
formidable political boss. This was the secret of Gov- 
ernor Hughes' strength in his great fight. He flung himself 
boldly upon the moral sentiment of the state, and insist- 
ing steadily upon the fundamental morality of his cause, 
he whipped the politicians into line and compelled the 
legislature to do its duty. The occasional winning of 
moral victories like this in politics helps to keep alive 
our faith in the sure progress of democracy. 

Governor Hughes is a living example of the ideal poli- 
tician. He is the leading exponent of character in politics. 
But in aiming for the high standard he has set we do not 
wish to have an inquisition held into the private character 
of candidates. The matter must be looked at broadly and 
justly from the viewpoint of sensible men of the world. 
We must avoid confusing ethics with politics. Certain 
kinds of morality are negligible in reference to a man's 
fitness for public office. Integrity and honesty are the 
essential qualities. All we can wisely do is to insist upon 
a careful consideration of a candidate's record and, if it is 
not satisfactory on broad lines, to regard him as ineligible 
for public office. We all apply such tests in choosing 
men for business positions; in selecting those who are 
to represent us in public office ought we to employ a 
lower standard ? Possibly you and I agree that we ought 
not on general principles, but we too often overlook the 
fact that character is just as essential in the voter as in the 
office-holder. Indeed, it is impossible to have honest 
and efficient men in office unless a majority of the voters 
are men of good character. A majority of the men in the 
community may be honest, but their honesty is of no avail 
politically if they are too indolent to take an active or 
lively interest in public affairs. What can we expect 
when our so-called "best citizen," instead of taking an 



164 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

active part in practical politics, stays at home and reads 
his evening paper before the fire or swings in his summer 
hammock, holding in his hand the last ten-cent maga- 
zine exposure of political corruption, and wonders why 
somebody does not do something to improve political 
conditions ? Men of this kind are responsible for our 
political abuses; they are a menace to organized society. 

Upon each voter rests a responsibility to make it clear 
that unless a candidate for public office has character, 
as well as other qualifications, he cannot hope to be elected. 
You and I must insist upon the nomination for office of 
honest men. Everything depends upon us. I think 
you will all agree with me that no man of really doubtful 
character has ever been nominated for the presidency 
of the United States, in spite of the fact that the nominat- 
ing bodies for the most part are composed of men who, 
in the making of nominations for minor offices, habitually 
follow a low and not a high ideal. Why is this so ? It is 
because political organizations are very human after all. 
They want to win elections, and whenever they are 
forced to realize that it is very difficult to do so with a 
doubtful candidate, a premium is at once placed upon 
character in politics. In the case of the presidency they 
know that the people will rebel if they do not make char- 
acter a qualification. The time will come when a 
premium will be placed upon character in the selection 
of all candidates for public office, and when that time does 
come, we shall have honest politics. 

Once more let me emphasize the political responsibility 
which rests upon every citizen. Each voter holds a 
public office and a public trust. The general welfare 
demands that he shall fully realize all the responsibilities 
of his position. If he fails in this, he is a bad citizen. Let 
us not forget that the selfish men who have selfish in- 
terests to advance are going to take an active part in 



CHARACTER AND POLITICS 165 

politics, let us not forget that the corrupt men who want 
to make something out of the government are going to 
take an active part, and let us not forget that the dema- 
gogues who want to attain power and position are going 
to take an active part; and what are you and I going to 
do to combat the evil influence of such men? For the 
sake of our homes, and for the sake of our scheme of popu- 
lar government, upon which depends our prosperity, our 
happiness, and our liberties, we must enter the political 
arena and do our full share of the fighting under the 
Constitution. 



A PUBLIC CONSCIENCE 
DeRoy R. Fonville 

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA 

(Awarded first place in the Contest of the Southern Intercollegiate Ora- 
torical Association, 1909) 

The opening of the twentieth century saw the political 
and social ideals of the American people in a state of fer- 
ment. Amid the clash and din of conflicting interests 
we often stood perplexed, not knowing which way to turn. 
A heavy pall of gross materialism was settling over the 
land and stifling the finer sensibilities that had dared 
to withstand the corrupting influence of wealth. The 
situation was well expressed in the observation of Pro- 
fessor Small, who said: " We are face to face with the fact 
that to-day's men have gradually cut the moorings of 
ethical and social tradition after tradition, and that society 
is to-day adrift without definite purpose to shape its course 
and without a supreme conviction to give it motion." 
In politics the secret methods of the boss and the ring 
were triumphant. The majority insisted upon legislating 
in its own behalf and in stifling the opposition of the minor- 
ity. Business was regarded as a game to be played ac- 
cording to certain rules not well defined, and with little 
common basis of authority. Commodore Vanderbilt's 
classic expression, "The public be damned," was in the 
minds, if not on the lips, of many captains of finance. 
Politics and business joined hands, and while shameless 
corruption ran riot, the dearest possessions of the people 
were bartered away. It was thought that the private 

166 



A PUBLIC CONSCIENCE 167 

code of ethics, which demands that there be common 
honesty in the dealings of man with man, had no appli- 
cation to public relations. 

Blind to the results of this system of public morals, 
men of large influence and high standing, when shown 
their acts in their proper relations, were appalled by the 
magnitude of their crimes. To this indefensible system 
of business ethics, the insurance president, McCall, fell a 
victim. Conscience-smitten and hissed by the very 
newsboys on the] streets, the wretched old man was 
driven to his grave by the lashings of a guilty conscience, 
the tortures of a broken heart. If such be the result upon 
the individual, how much more serious must be the col- 
lective effect upon society of the same blindness and in- 
difference to the results of lawlessness and crime ? History 
bears convincing testimony to the fact that the most fre- 
quent cause of the decline and fall, not only of human 
lives, but of nations as well, is the decay of individual 
character. Literature has presented the same truth with 
completeness and power. The poetical imagination of the 
Anglo-Saxons for many generations had dallied with the 
problem until the laureate of modern England gave 
form and color to the story in the rise and fall of the mythi- 
cal kingdom of Arthur. What happens in this mythical 
kingdom happens in fact whenever and wherever " wealth 
accumulates and men decay." The constructive imagi- 
nation of the poet brings out strongly the lines of influence 
that link the most private life of the individual with public 
issues and that make national success finally dependent 
upon personal morality. 

The failure of the American administration of criminal 
justice, the reckless disregard of the sacredness of human 
life, and the maudlin sentimentality that the public in- 
creasingly display in regard to dramatic crimes, together 
with the pernicious sympathy that prompts the appeal 



168 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

to the pardoning authority, all tend inevitably to weaken 
the whole structure of government and to make all liberty 
insecure. That the United States to-day leads the civ- 
ilized world in the crime of murder, especially unpunished 
murder, should cause every citizen to hang his head in 
shame and tremble with anxiety for his country's fate. 
The number of homicides has grown from one thousand 
eight hundred in 1885 to eight thousand in 1905, an in- 
crease of nearly five hundred per cent in twenty years. 
During these twenty years more than three thousand 
people met death at the hands of the mob; whereas 
lynching has been unknown in the whole British Empire 
for more than seventy-five years. In addition to this, 
it should be noted that of those prosecuted for homicide 
in Germany more than ninety-five per cent were con- 
victed; whereas in the United States — what is almost 
unbelievable — only one and three-tenths per cent were 
convicted. Surely these facts justify the conclusion 
that homicide is with us the safest crime that can be 
committed. 

From this record we turn away in disgust at our 
boasted civilization. And yet this is but a part of the 
story. When we consider the fact that there is general 
and widespread lack of reverence or even respect for age, 
attainment, authority, or for law itself, that there is 
either open defiance of law or secret nullification of its 
effects; when we consider the idea, which is prevalent 
in many places, that the community has the right to say 
whether or not it shall be bound by the laws it has helped 
to enact, a social cataclysm appears imminent, and we 
are almost forced to draw back shuddering from the dark 
abyss which yawns at our feet and let " darkness be the 
burier of the dead." Is this conclusion inevitable ? Must 
Liberty's torch, transmitted to us by heroic men, become 
a feeble flame at length to flicker out in smoke and dark- 



A PUBLIC CONSCIENCE 169 

ness ? And must our civilization be cast upon the ash- 
heap of forgotten nations to mingle with the dust of dead 
empires ? These questions will rise to the mind of every 
thinking American, and, like the ghost of the murdered 
Banquo, they will not down. 

But a change has taken place. If society has been 
adrift, she is no longer loose and driving free before the 
storm. To those anxious watchers on the shore it is 
apparent that a pilot has come aboard. That man must 
be blind indeed who does not see in the tremendous social 
changes, in the unmistakable expression of moral senti- 
ment, and in the crystallizing of social ideals, the directing 
power of a public conscience. Milton's conception of 
the moral awakening of his country, where he saw her 
" rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking 
her invincible locks/' has been realized in America. Let 
him who doubts that there is a new order of things behold 
the Insurance Investigation in New York. Let him fol- 
low the spirit of reform as it lays bare the shameless cor- 
ruption in the municipal life of St. Louis, Philadelphia, 
and San Francisco. And let him observe how it has 
touched every phase of life, both public and private, 
demanding cleaner men and a more efficient administra- 
tion of affairs. Let him grasp the significance of these 
movements and be convinced that the American people 
have taken a long step forward toward the establishment 
of higher standards of commercial and civic morality. 

What has produced this change ? To reply in a word, 
publicity — an exposure of the naked truth, a direct ap- 
peal to the intelligence and conscience of the people. He 
was not far wrong who defined our government as " gov- 
ernment by public opinion," if by public opinion is meant 
the mature conviction and settled determination of the 
people. For whatever public opinion decrees, that is 
law. It may not be the law of statute book or] legal 



170 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

precedent, but it is the law which controls. It may be a 
cruel tyrant or a most obedient servant. Without its 
approval the statute is impotent, and the court is shorn 
of its strength. With its approval no man dare defy 
its slightest caprice. With its protection communities 
have with impunity trampled upon laws and gloried in 
their crimes. With it has come the family feud in Ken- 
tucky, the night-rider in Tennessee, and throughout the 
North as well as the South, for the nameless crime, short 
shrift at the end of a rope. For the same reason, whatever 
ends public opinion brands as dishonorable, strong men 
will refuse to pursue; whatever means public opinion 
discountenances, men of force and character will reject 
and spurn. President Hadley says, "This dependence 
upon public opinion is not simply a present fact; it is the 
necessary basis of all free government, the active agent in 
its achievement, and without it civil liberty is impossible." 
The career of Governor Hughes is a powerful example 
of the change that has taken place. Beaten in the legis- 
lature by the corrupt tools of the machine, he carried his 
message straight to the people. They rallied to his support 
and gave a stinging rebuke to their faithless representa- 
tives. His recent race-track fight, in which a sick senator, 
carried from his bed to the senate chamber, cast the decid- 
ing vote to abolish the racing evil in New York, concluded 
one of the most dramatic campaigns in this civic war. 
It has shown that an apathetic majority may sometimes 
barely escape defeat at the hands of a militant minority, 
and that " eternal vigilance" is still "the price of liberty." 
These race-track gamblers, fighting with desperation, 
with their cry of "Let us alone," are typical of the whole 
opposition movement. This cry of "Let us alone" was 
uttered two thousand years ago by the demons whom 
the Perfect One ordered to come out of a poor devil- 
possessed man. Those who corrupt the national char- 



A PUBLIC CONSCIENCE 171 

acter, those who debauch the public and insist upon 
poisoning society, utter, at the command of enlightened 
public opinion reflecting the public conscience of the 
American people, the same despairing cry. 

This civic war has revealed the fact that in quiet, unas- 
suming citizens will be found those same qualities of hero- 
ism and devotion as were found in those whose careers 
loom large on the horizon of national achievement and 
whose names linger upon the lips of childhood, inspire the 
dreams of youth, and guide the counsels of reverent and 
resolute manhood. It has demonstrated that the real 
battles of the future are not to be accompanied by all 
the glittering paraphernalia of rifle, fife, and drum, but are 
to be around the ballot box and in the busy haunts of the 
market-place, the forum, and the fireside. This new order 
of things has given those who have never yet lost faith 
in the American people renewed confidence in the final 
triumph of democratic principles ; it has shown them that 
the moral fibre of the people is still strong ; that the Puri- 
tan type which accepts responsibility holds the ascendency, 
that public office is still a public trust, and woe be to him 
who does not so regard it. If any one doubt this con- 
clusion, let him ask Depew, Piatt, Quay, and a number 
of others whose days are numbered. It has settled once 
for all that the private standard of common honesty must 
be applied to the world of business, that the minority 
have rights which must be respected, that the bad citizen 
is not Abe Ruef or Mayor Schmitz — not the professional 
politician who corrupts a legislature or the man who ac- 
cepts a bribe, but it is that man who permits ' such trans- 
actions to go on before his very eyes and never raises 
his voice in protest. It is that citizen who is indifferent 
to his civic duty and to the wrongs of an outraged public. 

The greatest fact in the whole movement is the awaken- 
ing of the listless and lethargic public to the consciousness 



172 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

of their own power. Enough has already been accom- 
plished to show the people that if they tolerate fraud or 
inefficiency, it is their own fault. It has presented with 
renewed vigor the old truth that government is a thing 
which will not run itself, that liberty solves no problems, 
that for the citizens of a republic each day is a preliminary 
judgment day in which the voice of doom comes echoing 
and reechoing through the halls of history, " Improve, 
live, grow, or the forces of putrefaction will begin upon 
you at once." That continuous cosmic enterprise which 
forever unmakes the things of to-day to recreate them in 
the things of to-morrow must of necessity leave behind 
many of the traditions that have guided us. Human 
life does not allow an individual to grow to be a man 
and still remain a boy. To insist that the man shall wear 
the clothes of the boy is productive of absurd misfits. 
What must be insisted upon is that when he becomes a 
man, he put away childish things, that he assume the garb 
and exercise the powers of responsible manhood. 

In this struggle for honesty, decency, and good govern- 
ment, all that is manly in American citizenship must be 
enlisted. Not mere love of country nor willingness to 
fight and die, if needs be, for her fair fame is enough, but 
to an understanding of her needs and the promotion of 
her welfare, the American citizen must devote all the in- 
telligence with which he is endowed. For him who be- 
lieves that the Golden Age is in the past, that all the heroes 
are numbered among the dead, and that the future holds 
nothing but a dull waste of mediocrity, little sympathy 
should be entertained. He who is alive to present facts, 
whose heart is not in the "sere and yellow leaf," knows 
that the Golden Age is yet to be, that heroes greater than 
those of Grecian mythology or ancient fable are your con- 
temporaries and mine, and that achievements far sur- 
passing any dream of man's yet lie secure in the bosom 
of the future. 



THE ERA OF CONSCIENCE 
William L. Dolly, Jr. 

RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE 

(Awarded first place in the Virginia State Intercollegiate Oratorical 
Contest of 1908) 

Sweeping over the vast expanse of this broad land of 
ours, extending from the Canadian border to the Gulf of 
Mexico, and from the shores washed by the Pacific to those 
beaten by the Atlantic, has been a mighty movement 
which has shaken this glorious republic to the very roots 
of its being. This movement has permeated its every 
nerve and tissue and has sunk down deep into its inmost 
fibre. Various have been the names by which this move- 
ment has been called, but I think that you will agree with 
me in naming it the force of conscience and the present 
day its era. 

Powerful has been the opposition which has been placed 
in the path of this movement; seemingly unconquerable 
forces have fought its every advance with a doggedness 
worthy of a better cause, but as a mighty fire which, with 
a violence that cannot be checked, sweeps over a tract 
of forest shrouded in the black cloak of night, so has this 
land of ours been subjected to the resistless purifying 
flames of reform. 

Not only has it affected us politically, but it has also 
shown itself along social and economic lines. Americans 
have come to a greater love for their fellow-men and to a 
realization of the terrible suffering that, within the bor- 
ders of every state, has ever existed among the poor and 

173 



174 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

sick. Never before has so much money been donated by- 
private individuals for the establishment of hospitals, 
sanitariums, poor-houses, and homes for the aged. I say 
never in all the past has any people given itself over as 
unselfishly to labors of love among its fellow-men, and, 
in this, does it not seem that we have caught a little of 
the spirit of the Master ? Can you and I imagine a nobler 
tribute to pay to any people ? 

Man, who is essentially a social being, has come to a 
realization of the fearful danger which rests in the divorce 
evil, and all over the land a demand has gone up that this 
crime against civilization must be remedied. That which 
God has joined together let no man put asunder. 

Then, too, the marvellous wave of temperance that has 
swept over our Southland and is beginning to surge over 
the states west of the Mississippi is one of the most im- 
portant manifestations of this wonderful movement of 
reform. The breasts of American citizens at last throb in 
sympathy with the hosts of mothers who have seen their 
children dragged down to a drunkard's grave, and the 
prayers of the millions of wives who have seen their homes 
and their happiness ruined through this demon of drink 
are being answered. 

The papers of the land have been filled with insurance 
scandals. The fact that this dishonesty has crept in is 
lamentable, but the fact that it has been unearthed and 
brought to the light of day is something for which the 
American people should be deeply grateful, for it shows 
the trend of the public mind. 

Glorious is the movement that has been set on foot for 
the further education of the youth of the land along tech- 
nical and classical lines. We have become aroused to the 
moral obligation resting upon us for the more equipment 
of the children of America for the battle of life. 

Then, too, most powerfully does this movement show 



THE ERA OF CONSCIENCE 175 

itself in the revelations as to the employment of minors 
in the large manufacturing plants of the country. The 
lives of the children, the brightest flowers of the land, 
had been ground in the wheels of commercialism, until 
their cries had gone echoing out without an answering cry 
or a succoring hand. In vain had they resounded at the 
gates of heaven, until the whole universe had reechoed 
with their mournful wail, and not till then did it reach 
the adamantine hearts of men, and not till then was a hand 
reached out to stop the demons who were using these 
young lives as fuel for the awful furnace of avarice. 
None the less clearly do we see this movement as it has 
affected the political conditions. Who can forget the 
revelations of graft and dishonesty in the city of San 
Francisco ? Who can forget the lamentable conditions 
brought to light some time ago in Pennsylvania ? Who 
can forget the serious charges brought recently^against 
public servants in Virginia ? I say who can forget them; 
for while it brings a blush of shame to our cheeks that such 
conditions should exist in America, at the same time songs 
of praise are being sung that we as Americans are at last 
demanding purity in our politics and unblemished char- 
acters in our public officials. Though long delayed, this 
movement has come at last, and although ruin and deso- 
lation appear to be in its wake, the country purged and 
cleansed will rise to heights unthought of. 

When the awful war cloud of the sixties rolled away, 
leaving in its wake fresh-made mounds of clay, which were 
the shrouds of death, ruined fortunes, burned homes, and 
torn and bleeding hearts, then it was that wearied nerve 
and muscle sought repose from political warfare and strife. 
Minds and hearts were centred in the single object of 
recuperating lost fortunes and the rebuilding of ruined 
homes. Political interests were not the interests of the 
majority. We became commercial; the bread of life had 



176 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

to be earned; homes had to be supported; children had 
to be educated. Then later the great railroads, the huge 
arteries of trade intimately binding the whole country 
together, were built. Vast projects were undertaken and 
completed. 

Is it then to be marvelled at that we became commer- 
cial ? And is it any wonder that, as the people of the nation 
were recuperating their lost fortunes, their interest in their 
state legislatures and municipal governments waned? 
As their interest in their democratic institutions lessened, 
so corruption, as the death-dealing canker which destroys 
the full-blown rose in all its beauty, has eaten its way in 
and has been destroying the democratic life and vitality 
of hundreds of our cities and scores of our state legis- 
latures. • 

Unconscious were we of this bane in our national life 
until some years ago when the governor of one of our 
states had the bravery to oppose the forces of bribery and 
corruption in his legislature and left not a stone un- 
turned until his state was clean. Thus started, the public 
mind was attracted to various places. Reputations have 
been ruined. Men have been put behind prison bars. 
Call it muck-raking, if you will, but the sunlight has been 
let into these fever pools in our national life and has 
cleansed them of their filth and corruption. A brighter 
day is dawning for America. The Era of Conscience is 
here. As the reformation with all its attendant changes 
and blessings swept over Europe, so has this spirit of 
reform swept over this our land. 

This monster of bribery and corruption was attacking 
many of the state legislatures of the land as the awful 
octopus of the sea envelops its victim in its slimy, sinewy 
folds almost without his being conscious of the danger, 
and then, when the unhappy one recognizes his fearful 
peril, the loathsome monster of the deep but closes in, 



THE ERA OF CONSCIENCE 177 

and the doomed sufferer, groaning and writhing in his 
agony, chokes himself with shrieks, which die away un- 
heard, while be perishes unseen by any eye, unaided by 
any arm. But as the lamp of Aladdin unlocked vaulted 
doors revealing vast treasures, so we in this era of con- 
science, unlocked from this deadly embrace, stand at the 
portals of a period rich in wonderful opportunities and 
vast possibilities. As the golden sunshine with all its 
marvellous power of healing and of cleansing filters into 
a room that reeks with filth and disease, so will the light 
of civilization from this glorious land of ours enter into 
the recesses of the world filled with oppression and sin 
and from its very cleansing power uplift and help to a 
nobler plane of living. 

Virginia, too, has been rocked by this movement, and 
although it grieved her sons that she too needed purging, 
they were brave enough to carry on the work. We have 
seen that some of our public officials were stained in char- 
acter, and with the lofty ideals of what was right we have 
forced men of such a reputation to retire from the service 
of our state. Some have been able to remain, but O 
Virginians, we want clean men to serve our state, we want 
men whose moral character is above reproach. Virginia's 
ideals have been high in the past. Great and noble men 
have served her, and by the help of the Almighty the 
Virginians of to-day will not lower one inch her standard. 
We want no tainted men ; for no state, no country can 
ever survive if her public servants are not above reproach. 
Can we as Virginians and as Americans allow such men 
to represent us in our legislative halls as at one time filled 
the capitol of Pennsylvania? Shall we as voters and hence 
as the rulers of the land allow men there to represent us 
and make our laws whose sole purpose in being there is 
to gratify private aims and further private interests, and 
whose chief occupation is log-rolling and the granting of 



178 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

franchises to those corporations who can put up the most 
money ? Oh, do not our souls rather revolt at the idea, 
and do we not rather bind ourselves by solemn oaths that 
such shall not be the case and that our public servants 
shall be as far above reproach as the star-studded sky 
overhead is above the restless sea beneath. Our ideals 
have been high in the past, and shall we not be deter- 
mined to keep them high with a purpose as firm and un- 
shaken as the rocks of Gibraltar? Can we allow men 
of tarnished character to sit upon the highest courts in 
this grand old commonwealth of ours and dispense jus- 
tice ? Is it not rather a mockery on the name ? Can 
we afford to have our shield tarnished by men of this 
type ? Oh, would, sirs, I had the conviction of Saul of 
Tarsus, the wisdom of Solomon, the power of expression 
of Shakespeare, and the eloquence of Demosthenes to 
send this message in ringing tones throughout the length 
and breadth of this fair land of ours. 

There is a character dear to every English heart and 
sacred to all in whom the blood of old England flows. 
That character is King Arthur. Call him a myth, if you 
will. Call his reputed deeds the fruit of legend, of story, 
and of song. But whether real or mythical, he lives 
to-day, and living, ever speaks to us in the highest ideal of 
English manhood. His labor was the highest endeavor 
for the common good; his mission, the truest manhood 
possible; his glory, the happiness and prosperity of his 
people. He it was who made each of his knights to swear 



" To reverence the King, as if he were 
Their conscience, and their conscience as their King, 
To break the heathen and uphold the Christ, 
To ride abroad redressing human wrongs, 
To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it, 
To honor his own word as if his God's, 
To lead sweet lives in purest chastity." 



THE ERA OF CONSCIENCE 179 

It is to the regaining of lost ideals that the era of con- 
science points, to the time when we all shall be as truly 
knights given over to the common weal as were the knights 
of the Round Table. "The old order changeth, yield- 
ing place to new, and God fulfils himself in many ways." 
Let us make the new order one in whose spirit the force 
of conscience will be the leaven working throughout the 
body politic, cleansing and purifying, healing and re- 
newing, until the golden age comes again when we would 
have ourselves do unto others as we would have them do 
unto us, when America, marching foremost in the ranks of 
progress, shall lead the rest of the civilized world. 

When awakened thoroughly to any problem and its 
dangers, this nation is powerful to grapple with that prob- 
lem and work on to its successful solution; but a nation 
asleep like some giant Samson can be shorn of its powers 
by forces whose pygmy strength to the awakened nation 
would be bonds snapped as easily as fetters of straw. 
And in the nation thus awakened we see the minds of men 
aroused to the full powers which are theirs, to their un- 
paralleled opportunities and to a grander appreciation 
of their mission on earth. 

Most fittingly may this movement be compared to the 
magnificent struggles which have taken place in the 
world's history. Joan of Arc succeeded in her effort in 
uniting all Frenchmen in a common cause and freed her 
land from foreign rulers. Then, too, the same people, 
although forced into the throes of a bloody revolution, 
freed themselves from their bondage to their kings, and, 
too, when the reformation swept over Europe, ignorance 
was supplanted by knowledge and bigotry by Chris- 
tianity. So, too, in the last decade Americans have 
thrown off the spirit of commercialism which has choked 
our every effort and have risen to a nobler plane for a 
period of world-wide influence and power. 



180 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

But, gentlemen, I contend that this movement is 
grander than the movements of former ages; for it is as 
the leaven working, and what may not be the results ? 
The grandest nation on the globe, filled with lofty ideals 
and imbued with love for their fellow-men and a devout 
desire to assist in the amelioration of their condition, have 
a future that is not to be measured and a power that is not 
to be estimated. As the country has striven to do honor 
to the hero of Valley Forge, by raising a monument that 
in height surpasses the massive dome of St. Peter's or St. 
Paul's or any of the other monumental structures that 
mankind has built, so has America raised her ideals above 
the hopes and fondest ambitions of all other nations on 
the earth; and as she has raised her ideals, so will her 
achievements surpass those of other peoples. If America 
keeps her flag untarnished, she will not flash across the 
sky of time as a whirling comet flames in momentary 
splendor across the black brow of night, but, as a steady 
sun, firmly fixed in the dome above, will she send out her 
rays of healing and of cleansing. 

O Virginians, yes, Americans, as you love the Stars 
and Stripes and all that they mean to you, let us carry 
on this movement of conscience, and as the mighty Mis- 
sissippi rises and overflows the dikes which attempt to 
hold it in its narrow course and floods the surrounding 
fields, enriching them and making them yield a double 
crop, so may we let this movement rise above the obstacles 
which stand in its path and attempt to check it and keep 
it in a narrow circumscribed course, and let it penetrate 
to every nook and corner of America with its cleansing, 
fertilizing flood, so that the yield will be tenfold and the 
portions of our political and social life which are as barren 
deserts will bloom and blossom as the rose of Sharon. 
Lofty have been Virginia's ideals, pure have been her 
public servants, magnificent have been her gifts to civili- 



THE ERA OF CONSCIENCE 181 

zation, and, gentlemen of Virginia, we have shown our 
determination to keep her public servants pure, and, with 
this purpose ever held in mind, as certain as there is a 
God in heaven, her gifts to her fellow-men will grow richer, 
more powerful, and more magnificent as the revolving 
years go by. Let us carry on this work and plant the 
Stars and Stripes upon the battlements where they be- 
long, whence the grand old emblem may send out its rays 
of civilization from where the sun sinks to rest in the 
Western sea to where the golden dawn begins, and from 
where blow the zephyrs of the farthest South to where 
the matchless Aurora spreads her flaming banners in the 
Northern sky. 

And so, if then we make this era of conscience not a 
passing excitement, but, if it is here to abide until the 
works of man's hands shall crumble into dust and his 
institutions cease to exist, then with confidence may we 
tear away the veil that separates us from the future, and 
with an inner eye unclouded by doubt or uncertainty may 
we behold the war horse stripped of his glories, the sabre 
moulded into ploughshares, the battle flag furled, and our 
nation ministering to the world even as did He who, born 
in an humble manger near the restless sea of Galilee, 
ministered to sin-sick humanity. 



THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIENCE 

Jesse Feiring Williams 

OBERLIN COLLEGE 

(Awarded first place in the Contest of the Northern Oratorical League 

1908) 

When a biologist places upon the slide of his micro- 
scope the thin sections which show the development of the 
cell, he has upon that bit of glass the primary wonder of 
the whole living world. Since Darwin the intellectual 
world has been coming to realize that in this universe are 
certain definite paths of development, and has seen not 
only natural organisms, but also nations and worlds in 
divers stages of progressive development. The discoveries 
of Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton, the victory of Dar- 
win, the triumph of modern evolutionists, — all enlarge 
the significance of human life. They show us distinctly 
that man's perfection is the goal toward which nature has 
been ever tending; so the biologist sees in the thin sec- 
tions of the cell not only the beginning, possibility, and 
promise of an organized universe, but he sees also himself 
— himself, the last final development. With the results 
from the study of geology and organic life the truth of 
evolution is affirmed. To deny this law to-day would 
be as Gladstone said of England's mistaken aid of the 
Confederacy — like opposing the law of gravitation. The 
human mind to-day recognizes that life is a constant growth 
from lower to higher forms. The world presents many 
examples of the evolution of the physical. We need only 

182 



THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIENCE 183 

recall the life story of the horse, the pigeon, the ox, man 
himself, to be assured that evolution has brought us a 
finer type of being. We marvel at the difference between 
the primitive pigment spot and the developed eye which 
grew out of it, and we are coming in these days to appre- 
ciate the broad fact that life, in the age-long course of 
its development, has gained capacity for higher exercise 
and richer happiness. According to our best science the 
perfecting of humanity is to be the glorious consummation 
of nature's work, and in this deadly struggle for existence 
which has raged throughout countless eons of time, the 
whole creation has been groaning and working, fighting and 
dying in order to bring to its fullest completion the highest 
forms of life. 

Yes, the biologist can see in the thin sections of the cell 
himself, but he knows that if he interprets his science 
correctly, the man he sees is not merely physical. He 
knows that mind and body are one, and that if science is 
to be justified, he must think of his evolution as being not 
only physical, but also mental. Man in his upright posi- 
tion is regarded as the highest form of physical life, and 
our physiological psychology says that the future per- 
fection of mankind shall not be by the development of 
new hands, eyes, or organs, but by the evolution of con- 
science. As the crouching slave walks a free man, as man 
himself has risen from all fours and now walks as a god, 
even so conscience crowns our mental evolution. 

The world presents also many examples of the evolu- 
tion of conscience. The highest civilization of Greece 
was but an embryonic stage of what we to-day call morals. 
The difference between the fanatical Indian thug, who 
regrets that he has not strangled so many travellers as 
did his father before him, and the doctor, engineer, or 
good Samaritan, who enter the jaws of death to save their 
fellow-men; the growth of the moral sense in Cardinal 



184 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

Wolsey, who sums up the mistakes of his self-assertive, 
avaricious life in these words, "Cromwell, I charge thee 
fling away ambition," — such growth, from the thug to 
the Samaritan, from the Wolsey of youth to the Wolsey of 
age, shows us a progressive evolution of conscience. Read 
the story of Jean Valjean, a reformed criminal, who lost 
wealth, position, influence, happiness, for the sake of 
saving a miserable, low-down, but innocent human crea- 
ture. Follow his bowed white head to the court room 
after conscience won its fight and hear his words — words 
that have stirred the hearts of men for sixty years, "Gen- 
tlemen of the jury, he is not the man whom you seek. 
I am Jean Valjean." Could any primitive man have 
believed such self-surrender possible ? Could any savage 
moralist have understood such action ? Yet we to-day 
undoubtedly look upon the lines of Wolsey as ideally true, 
and the story of Jean Valjean, the finest bit of ethical 
analysis in the world's literature. Yes — we to-day 
regard that declaration of Valjean as the best action of the 
human conscience. 

We might trace the rise of conscience from primitive 
to modern man, from the first crude scruple to the highest 
soul sense; but instead, let us consider three world move- 
ments where conscience plays a dominant part. One of 
these movements began in 1802, when a distinct advance 
marked the nineteenth century. Conscience through the 
vow of Sir Robert Peel awoke the whole world to the fact 
that it was wrong to imprison children in shops and fac- 
tories. The movement has grown. Yet who in ancient 
Rome, in looking down the years, could have imagined 
these words of the twentieth century: — 

"How long, how long, wilt thou, oh, cruel nation, 
Content to turn the world on a child's heart, 
Trample down with your nailed heel its palpitation, 
And tread onward to your mart?" 



THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIENCE 185 

Could Nero have considered for a moment the heart 
of a child while the Christians were burning in his garden ? 
Conscience has evolved. The bitter cry of the children 
with the wintry lines on their faces full of seas of sorrow 
has been hearkened to, and because a child is a child, we 
are reading in these days of progressive evolution the eigh- 
teenth chapter of Luke with better understanding. And if 
some one should ask what is typical of our world to-day, 
we should reply, "It is not that child labor is any worse, 
but that which marks our period is the awakening of con- 
science to the fact that it is morally wrong." 

These last few years have seen conscience battling 
in another movement for the ideals of universal peace 
and brotherhood. How Alexander, Ptolemy, Caesar, 
Napoleon, would have laughed at the prospect! But their 
laugh would sound hollow now. Long indeed have men 
failed to see that they were brothers, that color, race, 
speech, were not distinctions in a universe of souls. 
In spite of the elaborate preparations for war, that god 
of destruction is no more terrible now than he was when 
Charles Martel battled with the Moorish hordes on the 
field of Tours in sunny France, or when Caesar slaugh- 
tered one million lives in adding the vine-clad hills of Gaul 
to the Roman Empire; no, he is no more horrible now 
than he was when that great Englishman defeated the 
Old Guard, staining the lilies of France with the red blood 
of the Britishers. That which marks our period is not 
the fleets of war nor arsenals of cannon, not the building 
of navies nor the marshalling of armies, nor is it the de- 
crease in the horrors of war, but in spite of standing armies 
and warlike preparations, in spite of martial music and 
the sound of tramping soldiers, the true index of to-day is 
the awakening of conscience to the fact that war is morally 
wrong. 

In another movement conscience has been fighting a 



186 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

danger more disastrous to the life of a nation than child 
labor, more destructive to the constitutions of men and 
of republics than the demon war. A plague, a pest has 
poisoned not only the Halls of Justice, the Highways of 
Commerce, but also has infected the very fountains of 
life, the home, — the very foundation of our social and 
moral standards; the home, — the source of the strength 
and perpetuity of our republic; the home, — "that little 
cottage with the hollyhocks growing at the corner with 
their bannered bosoms open to the sun, with its spring 
of water bubbling day and night like a little poem from 
the heart of the earth, with the lattice work across the 
window so that the sunlight falls checkered on the baby 
in the cradle. " Into such a paradise the demon drink 
has come. In such a land as ours, in such homes, how 
horrible is that! Oh, the desolate homes! The broken- 
hearted mothers ! In the words of Cassio : — 

" Oh, that men should put an enemy in their mouths, 
To steal away their brains ; 
That we should transform ourselves into beasts." 

What a tragedy! That men and women should be sold 
into such a slavery! Oh, the pathos of it! That such a 
serpent should control the destinies of men! Yea, of 
nations! But an emancipator has come! A century ago 
there was no public opinion against the "traffic"; to-day 
conscience has started over the South a great wave of 
temperance which is sweeping on, on, over the world. 
Before the later temperance movements the grog shop 
was not discriminated against; to-day sixty-five fraternal 
organizations with a membership of seven millions of 
men now bar all liquor dealers. Even before the Whiskey 
Rebellion men paraded in all their drunkenness; to-day 
the world sees a grand temperance parade in Sweden. 
A score of years ago saloons were everywhere; to-day 
Oklahoma adds a star to the flag and a " dry" constitution 



THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIENCE 187 

to the Union. In Alabama, Kansas, Georgia, Mississippi, 
throughout the great South, old political issues are dis- 
carded, and the question of temperance is supreme in the 
hearts and minds of all. It is not that intemperance is 
any more insidious to us than it was to Rip Van Winkle, 
who " wouldn't count this time," but that which marks 
our period is the awakening of conscience to the awfulness 
of such an ignoble condition. 

We recognize that conscience has laid open for us the 
wrongs of child labor, war, and intemperance, but we 
are failing in some measure to so interpret the wrongs 
of our national life. We have critics to-day like Jonah 
of old who went up and down the streets of Nineveh 
prophesying, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be 
destroyed." Forty days passed, and Nineveh stood. 
To-day the American doctrinaires are heralding the utter 
degeneration of the American people. In proof they 
cite the appalling instances of dishonesty, rapine, and 
fraud, lawlessness of men and corporations, the use of 
office for private ends, the mad scramble for wealth. 
To these and many more they point as evidence of the 
utter degeneration of the times. The indictment is a 
terrible one. Can we answer it ? Can we say that the 
dial of human progress has not been going back ? To 
this spirit we can reply that from the lowest evolution 
has gone upward and onward. That the moral contest 
of man has been, not only between the bad and the good, 
but progressive evolution also makes that choice between 
the good and the better. Emerson says: — 

" So nigh is grandeur to our dust, 
So near is God to man, 
When duty whispers low, 'Thou must,' 
The youth replies, 'I can.'" 

Human life from the beginning has just simply been saying 
"thou must, thou must!" and conscience evolving re- 



188 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

plies, "I can, I can!" To those who doubt the "I can" 
we say it is not that the present times are any more cor- 
rupt and degenerate, — and we have good reason to 
believe they are less so, — but that the conscience of man 
has progressed; and he is now coming to insist as never 
before that high standards in public and private life 
shall be maintained, that, as Grover Cleveland says, 
" public office shall be regarded as a public trust," that 
the sanctity of family life be insisted upon, that the man 
who discards the virtues of life shall receive the anath- 
emas of all good men, that the rule of the square deal 
for every man shall be the dominant rule of national no 
less than of individual life. What we are demanding is 
true, brave, honest men! "The law declares it! The 
court awards it!" The progress of humanity is based 
upon its possibility! The evolution of conscience pre- 
scribes it ! Our hearts — yes, our hearts endorse it ! 

But to picture to ourselves this wonderful and signifi- 
cant law, presiding as it has through illimitable ages, we 
behold on the physical side the building of protoplasm into 
nerves and flesh and blood, evolving the gauze of the 
gnat's wing, the sheen of the humming bird, the lark's 
song, the rose's splendor, the violet's perfume, the gorgeous 
tints of the butterfly; evolving in the battles of conscience 
a life which is larger in its outlook, richer in its sympa- 
thies, nobler in its aims, and more joyous in its hope for 
humanity than it ever was for Father Abraham with all 
his flocks and herds. 

On an ancient Egyptian tablet, carved in the language 
of the past, there stands one word, and that one word 
renders the Old World near akin to ours — it is the word 
"evil." Many generations of men have known that 
word. In some near-by future century should there be 
unearthed a buried monument, record of our present 
world, that historic word "evil" would be still found 



THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIENCE 189 

written there, but over it would be seen that other word, 
so expressive of our evolution of conscience, that other 
word which humanity now begins to know as the greatest 
of all — even "love." 

But in the final analysis the most scientific evolutionary 
theory can be only a description of the process by which 
God has worked, and conscience and love only the results 
of the method He has used. It was such a thought that 
Tennyson had in mind when he wrote: — 

"That God that ever lives and loves, 
One God, one law, one element, 
And one far-off divine event, 
To which the whole creation moves.' 



THE TRIUMPH OF THE INDIVIDUAL 
Charles O. Purdy 

DRAKE UNIVERSITY 

(Awarded first place in thought and composition in the Iowa State Ora- 
torical Contest of 1909) 

In the onward progress of the ages there has been a 
constant struggle between two forces — conservatism, 
tending to preserve what already exists, and progression, 
striving to better established conditions. The one holds 
back; the other rushes forward. The one clings to the 
past; the other looks to the future. The one walks the 
old and well-known paths; the other strikes out into 
untried ways. Conservatism is expressed in laws and 
customs, in social stratification, in petrified systems of 
religion and philosophy. Progression manifests itself 
in the longing for liberty, in personal initiative, in the 
breaking down of social caste, in the rejuvenation of faith 
and creed. Conservatism tends to the suppression of 
the individual; progression tends to his development. 
Every innovation of civilization has been accomplished 
in spite of the forces of conservatism. Every great in- 
ventor, every great apostle, every great political leader, 
every great reformer, has had to struggle against the 
tendency of society to let well enough alone. There is a 
natural disposition among men to take things as they 
come, to make no radical changes; and this disposition 
is fostered by those who are satisfied with present con- 
ditions, — the rich, the powerful, the noble-born, — those 
who are not desirous of imperilling their own prosperity 

190 



THE TRIUMPH OF THE INDIVIDUAL 191 

by the amelioration of the condition of others. Progress 
has always had to fight its way. It has fought because 
some one was willing to suffer the stigma of ostracism 
and to brave the sneers of conservatism for the introduc- 
tion and enforcement of reform. 

For centuries conservatism was in the ascendency. 
Individual liberty was non-existent. Initiative was the 
prerogative of kings. Originality of thought was a crime 
punishable by death. The gigantic systems of caste, of 
aristocracy, of monarchy, made it impossible for a new 
idea to gain recognition. China stood still for three 
thousand years because of the influence of Confucianism. 
Egypt reached a certain height and could rise no higher, 
because it was imperative for the son to follow the occu- 
pation of the father. India still offers no brighter hope 
to her teeming millions than poverty in life and Nirvana 
in death, because her caste system has crushed all spirit 
out of the men and women who compose the lower classes. 
In these countries the value of the individual is not 
realized. System, law, society, is everything; the in- 
dividual is nothing. The lower orders of society are 
forced to a continuous heritage of stultified intellects, 
of serfdom and misery. Ultra-conservatism perpetuated 
the traditions of the past and the power of the ruling 
classes and the status of the civilization that had been 
attained, but the same force made the progress of the 
masses and the development of civilization impossible. 

And these effete civilizations have had to pay the 
penalty. No new thing has sprung from their worn-out 
systems for thousands of years. No individual genius 
has asserted itself. No amelioration of the masses is in 
sight. In these countries there is no progress, no hope, 
no future. The individual is absolutely subordinate to 
the forces of law and custom. In these countries real 
liberty cannot exist. The individual is not free to think 



192 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

for himself, to exercise his own initiative — how can a 
man's acts be free when his very thoughts are slaves ? 

It is a serious statement to make, but the signs of the 
times bear me out when I say that here in free America 
there is a limited class of men who advocate the return of 
such conditions. These men have no faith in the indi- 
vidual. They urge that the liberty of the people results 
in moral corruption, lawlessness, and crime, that the bal- 
lot belongs only to the man who has property to protect,, 
that the state ought to foster a paternalism which would 
keep a lazy man from starving and prevent an unwise 
man from making bad investments. They even hold 
that the strong arm of civil law ought to be invoked to 
keep men submissive to the moral law. They hold that 
men ought to be coerced to think alike, if allowed to think 
at all, and that every individual ought to be forced to 
submit in conduct and custom to the dictates of society. 

But these conservatives are wrong. If their theory 
means anything, it means that a paternalistic govern- 
ment furnishes greater incentive to individual genius 
than a democratic government. It means that all men 
ought to subscribe to the same creed and stand on the 
same platform. It means that men are not fit to be free, 
and that a monarchy furnishes better conditions for prog- 
ress than a republic. But the common sense and the 
universal heart of man cry out against such a theory. 
Let all be free. Let each man develop his individuality 
and assert his initiative, even if a few abuse the glorious 
privilege. Let the sun shine, even if some weeds grow 
rank, else all the flowers of virtue and genius would perish 
in the inglorious shadows of unproductive uniformity. 
The pyramids of Egypt, the ruins of Babylon, the hungry 
populace of India, are powerful witnesses of the truth that 
stagnation results from the suppression of individuality. 
Genius blossoms only in the sunny atmosphere of liberty. 



THE TRIUMPH OF THE INDIVIDUAL 193 

Progress never results where all are conformists. Who 
would attempt to say how history would read to-day had 
Mirabeau, Cromwell, or Washington subscribed to the 
conventionalities of their times ? No ! Spontaneous tal- 
ent and initiative never assert themselves where all are 
patterned after the same mould. Even morality is im- 
possible where men are forced to do right. The best- 
behaved community in the state of Iowa is in the peniten- 
tiary at Anamosa. But it would be ridiculous to call 
those men moral. They do right because they must, and 
there is no virtue in such conduct, perfect though it be. 

The strongest refutation of this doctrine that the liberty 
of the masses is a bad thing and that conformity and uni- 
formity are necessary conditions for the final realization 
of a Utopian state — the strongest refutation of this per- 
nicious doctrine is the progress and development of the 
American republic. Here, if ever in the world's history, 
liberty has been more than a dream. Here the individual 
citizen and his right to develop are paramount to all 
questions of political and economic expediency. Here the 
individual has asserted himself, has dared to think and 
act for himself — in politics, in religion, in business en- 
terprise, in the refinements of social intercourse. What 
is the result ? With a smaller standing army and a 
weaker police than any other nation we have the best be- 
haved people on the face of the earth. With no com- 
pulsory church attendance there is more genuine religious 
devotion in America than in all the world besides. With no 
social restrictions, the daughter of our laboring man can 
aspire to the most coveted position in society with grace 
and conduct as queenly as that of the most pampered 
daughter of wealth or royalty. And more than that; 
here business enterprise is limited only by the capacity 
of the individual. Here any man can aspire to whatever 
he will. The doors of our colleges swing open for all. 



194 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

The cabin, boy, the rail-splitter, the canal driver, assume 
the initiative, and forth from their ranks step the orators, 
the statesmen, the financiers, the captains in the marts of 
commerce, the leaders in thought and action. Nowhere 
else in all the world are there such possibilities. Nowhere 
else can the individual knock at so many doors and choose 
so many opportunities. And what is better far, nowhere 
else is the individual more mindful of his obligation to 
others. We Americans cannot think of ourselves alone. 
We are the most generous people in the world. Let there 
be a Russian famine or an Indian pestilence, and the 
wealth of America flows to those distant parts. And 
we are not compelled to do these things. We want to do 
them. The heart of America is big with philanthropy. 
Should the Prince of Peace pass this way, He would not 
find it necessary to minister to the maimed, the blind, the 
lepers cast without the gates, nor to the madman in the 
wilderness. He would find hospitals, asylums, and com- 
fortable homes for the alleviation of the suffering of the 
poor and distressed. America has helped more unfor- 
tunate people than any other nation; she has elevated 
more- lives to a higher plane; she has bound up more 
wounds and quieted more suffering; she has educated 
more children and sent out more missionaries; she has 
built more schools and furnished more hospitals; she has 
touched more hearts with human sympathy. She has 
stricken the shackles from the enslaved of other nations, 
sacrificing her sons and daughters upon the altar of hu- 
man liberty, human progress, and human development. 

America is the hope of the world! All eyes are fixed 
upon her as the land of promise for the millions yet unborn. 
And the hope of America lies in her sons and daughters. 
We have nothing to fear from outside foes who would 
gain a foothold on American soil. We have nothing to 
fear from inside traitors who would fetter the spirit of 



THE TRIUMPH OF THE INDIVIDUAL 195 

individualism that has made us great. And as long as 
the spirit of liberty lives, we need not fear that any form 
of paternalism will ever strike root in our institutions, 
that ultra-conservatism will ever stifle American genius, 
or that any form of slavery will ever shackle our American 
manhood. Thank Heaven, America is free! We can 
shape for ourselves whatever future we please. We are 
placed upon our own responsibility, we have freedom of 
choice and liberty of thought. But under the stress of 
that responsibility and in the sunshine and atmosphere 
of that liberty the individual has triumphed — in war, 
in peace, in art, in commerce, in social development and 
moral integrity — he has triumphed in the past. And 
the beauty of his ideals beckon him to a still higher de- 
velopment and a still grander destiny. Let him go forth 
manfully to meet the responsibilities that are sure to con- 
front him. And going forth, if he always asserts his power 
and influence upon the side of justice, if he fights the 
good fight against wrong and error, and oppression and 
superstition, girt with the whole armor of righteousness, 
if he stands firmly by the right as God gives him to see 
the right, he shall be instrumental in ushering in a new 
era even for America. Our cities will be purified, right- 
eousness will be enthroned, and there will be a better 
America because he has lived, and a grander liberty for 
all the downtrodden of the world because America has 
held high the banner of hope — and this shall be a triumph 
true and glorious, the triumph of the individual. 



THE TRIUMPH OF INDIVIDUALISM 
Towne Young 

UNIVEKSITY OF TEXAS 

(Awarded first place in the Contest for the Skinner Prize in Oratory, 
held at the University of Texas March 1, 1909; also delivered in the 
1909 Contest of the Texas State Oratorical League) 

A great statesman has said, " Every discovery by which 
human relationship has been improved, by which the 
civilization of man has progressed, has been produced by 
the creative power of the individual, never by the power 
of a combination of men. The great discoveries that have 
opened up new fields of improvement, that have elevated 
human thought and action, have been created by the pri- 
vate judgment of bold and able men." 

In these clear-cut statements is found the expression of a 
simple truth that has survived the shock of ages. The 
individual as the unit — the individual as the only factor 
in the great multiple of a nation — these are powerful 
ideas that run through the entire social fabric and through 
every sphere of organic life. In the material world the 
forces of nature act through the unit, and in the realm of 
science it is the cell and not the mass that is the subject 
of cultivation. As the laws of chemistry are largely 
concerned with the atom, so the laws of republics are 
concerned with the rights of the individual man; as the 
scientist must study the individual plant to reach his 
general law, so the moralist must make his appeal to the 
individual conscience to establish any rule of moral con- 
duct. History teaches that all nations determine their 

196 



THE TRIUMPH OF INDIVIDUALISM 197 

progress and shape their destinies by the light of personal 
ideals, and in every crisis of history men have exalted the 
individual as the saviour of their kind. Yet there are those 
in the world to-day who denounce the doctrine of indi- 
vidualism and declare that the subordination of the indi- 
vidual to the mass results in the maximum of human 
happiness. They protest against the elevation of the 
individual. They oppose the civilization he has created. 
They idealize government as a blessing to humanity, 
and would organize its people into a governmental army 
where every man and every woman would be a soldier 
in a vast industrial band, each guaranteed the opportunity 
of earning his daily bread, but in the interest of industrial 
equality enjoined from earning more. These communists 
spread the thought that the individual is nothing, the 
organization everything. They dream of an ideal state 
in which man has no choice of lot or toil, but moves ac- 
cording to the superior wisdom of the organized mass. 
This, we are told, is the liberty for which the ages have 
toiled, the liberty for which the earth has been crimsoned 
with human blood. 

But the doctrine embraced in communistic teaching 
strikes at the very foundation of liberty. If the doctrine 
they uphold means anything, it means that men are not 
worthy of individual freedom; it means that a paternalism 
furnishes a greater incentive to genius than a democ- 
racy, and that an oligarchy is more conducive to prog- 
ress than a republic; it means that in every department 
of life the individual must be crucified for society's ad- 
vancement, that the progressive instinct in the universal 
heart of man must be stifled to make possible the dream 
of a theorist. Shall we accept without question this 
pernicious doctrine ? • Shall we abolish the laws of nature 
and let government distribute the rewards of human 
toil ? We must develop to the fullest possible extent that 



198 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

divine gift of individuality which Providence has stored 
within us. The individual must be exalted that through 
him the state may be preserved. 

A nation's progress must cease when its people are 
forced into one mould of thought and action. This is a 
truth, clear and luminous, that has stood since the dawn 
of history, "when governments first reared their proud 
structures to the sky" and paved the way for organization 
of society. Celestial China has stood still for thirty cen- 
turies because of adherence to an outworn creed. The 
thousand years of mediaeval night that enveloped the 
empires of Western Europe resulted from the total sup- 
pression of individuality. The chaos of Russia to-day 
bears living testimony to the fact that the depths of human 
misery can be reached by a nation when the spirit of the 
individual citizen is crushed, and his every thought held 
in mental serfdom. How vastly different would have been 
the result of the great crises of American history had 
Washington, Jefferson, or Lincoln submitted to the 
ways and customs of their time! The success of Marconi 
is a triumph of individualism. He has performed the 
miracle of telegraphing without wires and of projecting 
messages across the ocean through space. His achieve- 
ment could never have been accomplished in a state held 
in communal bondage. Brains and energizing forces 
similar to those of Marconi are doubtless possessed by 
thousands of men whose environments hold them as with 
bands of steel in the clutches of mediocrity. The incen- 
tive lacking, the spirit refuses to act, and disuse performs 
its unfailing function as the agency of swift decay. 

A striking disproof of the theory that social uni- 
formity is essential to the creation of the perfect state 
lies in the marvellous development of the nineteenth 
century. In the growth of population, in the expansion 
of commerce, in material advancement of every kind, 



THE TRIUMPH OF INDIVIDUALISM 199 

this century has eclipsed the record of all centuries. 
Steam, electricity, gas, and telegraphy have enlarged the 
field of human opportunity. Science and philosophy, 
literature and art, have felt the impetus born of new con- 
ditions. In the Aladdin-like day of the present, great 
continents have been girdled with steel, the globe has 
been encircled with lightning, and through these instru- 
mentalities the wealth of the world has multiplied. The 
condition of the masses has improved beyond all prece- 
dents in history. The laboring man has climbed the social 
ladder, until to-day the distinction between patrician 
and plebeian is no more. Beneath his humble "vine and 
fig tree" the American workman lives a more elegant 
life than the feudal lords of old. 

What wrought these vast social and scientific advances 
but free man given full control of his individual genius ? 
During the nineteenth century, for the first time, the 
individual was free and could use his freedom to advan- 
tage. He broke the bondage of tradition, he " threw 
aside the superstition of the past, he shattered the political 
despotism of the period," he established his right to think 
and work and worship according to his private judgment, 
and the civilization of the hour is the result. And so the 
conclusion inevitably comes that the individual always 
precedes society in the march of universal progress. The 
individual has fought the battle and won the victory. 
He has broken away from the masses, he has fought the 
prejudices of his race, and, battling against the elements 
of chaos, he has come forth triumphant with the lines of a 
great social order taking their place about him and the 
star of a wonderful republic rising before his eyes. 

But while the individual, by right of merit, has been 
crowned king in America, and while his labors in the past 
have made for our nation an unparalleled advance, a dark 
seam has been disclosed in the strata of our new civiliza- 



200 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

tion, which, ever widening, threatens the safety of our 
most cherished institutions. New conditions beget new 
evils. The individual is still menaced with crucifixion 
by enemies who would destroy the spirit of individualism 
as completely as would the believers in social government. 
Our great republic, dedicated to freedom of conscience 
and liberty of the individual, has paused to-day in its 
marvellous career under the pandering of financial vam- 
pires who demand a confiscation of the fruits of honest 
toil. The hallowed principles for which our forefathers 
so gloriously struggled, rested, primarily, upon equal 
rights and unhampered competition. Private monopoly, 
in crushing the independent competitor and trampling 
the small dealer in the dust, assails with deadly precision 
these great tenets of our boasted liberty. Plundering 
capital, in its greed for financial gain, sins against the 
individual ; and, from the stifling of private enterprise and 
competition, there has resulted everywhere a decrease in 
human happiness and an increase in human woe. Men 
and women have been commercialized to satisfy the ap- 
petite of monopoly, and the victims of the mill, the mine, 
and the factory can be charged to capitalism. Around 
many a wife it has thrown the sombre weeds of widowhood. 
From the lips of many a babe it has drawn the wail of 
orphanage. Unnatural dividends of toil have been wrung 
from the bodies of little children, and, to the pessimist, our 
nation seems destined to repeat the example of imperial 
Rome, which flourished while its people were strong in 
manly virtues, happy in individual freedom, but perished 
when special privilege entered to strip from the race their 
liberty and thus make Roman virtue and power a tradi- 
tion of the past. 

Is the fate that befell mighty Rome our hidden destiny ? 
Will selfish greed for money and power hasten our disin- 
tegration and decay ?^ No! A thousand times, no! The 



THE TRIUMPH OF INDIVIDUALISM 201 

heart of our civilization is yet sound, the fountain-head of 
our national life is yet pure. We Americans are descended, 
not from Roman, but from the great Teutonic family, 
and through our veins runs the unconquered Teutonic 
blood. The strongest attributes of the ancient Teutons 
were love of personal freedom and reverence for native 
land. They sprang from a royal race, and sons of such 
men were never meant for slaves, nor have they ever 
patiently endured the yoke of any servitude. Even now, 
the united people of a common country are steadily 
restricting the forces of capitalism to legitimate spheres, 
and are moving onward toward the future with the con- 
fident step of those who feel that they are marching into 
the dawn. 

Only six score years and ten have passed since the old 
Liberty Bell proclaimed our Independence. In this brief 
period our Republic, conceived in liberty, nourished 
by individual enterprise, fortified against paternalism 
and monopoly, has advanced to the forefront among the 
assemblage of mighty nations. This glorious triumph 
of individualism is the crowning political achievement of 
sixty centuries. As we approach the future, confident 
of strength, as against the weakness of one hundred years 
ago, let us not forget that upon the individual sons and 
daughters of this Republic rests the burden of maintaining 
our national integrity. We face the duty of preserving 
the civilization for which our fathers labored, and of de- 
fending the liberty for which our fathers died. We face 
the more sacred duty of building upon the foundation 
of the present an image of the future republic, for the ideal 
American will be the result of our thoughts, our aspira- 
tions, and our sacrifices in behalf of this commonwealth. 
A noble task! A glorious duty! and one which the in- 
dividual American approaches with supreme courage 
and patriotism. Profoundly conscious of his personal 



202 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

responsibility, let the citizen of to-day strike his bravest 
blow to fashion this ultimate standard of individualism, 
and in the centuries to come America will reap the reward 
of her exalted ideal, "for her stars, radiant with its vivi- 
fying light, are set high in the firmament of national 
destiny, and while they shine this nation can never, never 
die." 



THE CALL OF DUTY 
Arthur W. O'Rourke 

UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA 

(Awarded second place in the Montana State Intercollegiate Oratorical 
Contest of 1909) 

In our war with Spain, eleven years ago, there were 
many deeds of heroism. None, however, can excel the 
act of a common soldier named Rowan. At the com- 
mencement of hostilities President McKinley desired 
the help of Garcia, the leader of the insurgents, who at 
that time was somewhere in the interior of the island 
of Cuba. It was important that a message should be 
carried to Garcia. Telegraph lines were down, the mail 
service unsafe, yet it was necessary that the message 
should be transmitted at the earliest possible moment. 
The name of Rowan was suggested as the most likely 
man to carry the message. He was summoned before 
the President, and given the document. Within four 
days he landed under cover of darkness off the shore of 
Cuba, and with his trust he disappeared into the night. 
Three weeks later he emerged from the dense under- 
brush on the farther shore, unharmed and triumphant! 
He had traversed the island, had suffered many hard- 
ships, had imperilled his life; but — he had carried his 
message to Garcia! 

A message to Garcia! How significant! Before him 
there had been but one course, and he had followed it. 
This course lies before us all. To possess an earnest 

203 



204 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

desire for furthering the interests of mankind, is indeed a 
worthy motive, but it is not sufficient. We must have 
not only the willing spirit, but the skilled brain and the 
trained hand. To attain these acquirements, and to use 
them — this is the summons of the twentieth century, 
this is the call of duty! 

Duty is the essential element of our American spirit. 
It is the bugle call, which, drifting faintly along the dor- 
mant line, summons us to the field of battle; it is the 
bugle call, that mounting in volume sounds our advance; 
it is the bugle call, that, ringing out its challenge of de- 
fiance, kindles within us the indomitable and resistless 
spirit which forces us on to victory. This battle-field 
is not one of contending batallions, armed with weapons 
of destruction, but rather the battle-field of progress, 
whereon the victory lies not to the man behind the gun, 
but to the man behind the transit; not to the man behind 
the trench, but to the man behind the desk; not to the 
man behind the firing line, but to the man behind the 
machines of production! 

The history of the world has been a history of con- 
quests — conquests for existence, conquests for territory, 
conquests for liberty, and conquests for democracy! 

Centuries elapse and the struggle has assumed a new 
form; the herald of time has announced the conquest 
for territory. The Angles and Saxons invade Britain; 
the Norsemen swoop down upon the empire of Charle- 
magne; the Tartars swarm into Eastern Europe; the 
Mohammedans intrude into Spain only to be driven out 
two centuries later by the Christians! 

From these mighty struggles there rises only a greater 
one — the conquest for liberty. The vain efforts of 
Greece and Rome to maintain republics; the pitiful at- 
tempts of Poland to establish a free government; the 
heroic struggles of the Dutch for freedom; and the sue- 



THE CALL OF DUTY 205 

cessful rebellion of the common people of England against 
a tyrannical sovereign, — these are the waterfalls in the 
course of the mighty stream of liberty! 

The last quarter of the eighteenth century witnessed 
the revolutions of the Americans and of the French, and 
in the wake of these mighty tempests, we see, fast ap- 
proaching, a broader and a higher conquest — the con- 
quest for democracy. The bloody conflicts over, the 
question of government arose, and men like Mirabeau, 
Hamilton, and Bismarck shaped the political course of 
Europe and of America. 

The echoes of Waterloo issued in a new awakening, a 
new conquest, the struggle for commercial supremacy. 
Battle-fields have been replaced by factories; generals 
have been succeeded by captains of industry; and the 
fighting steeds of the sea have given place to the gigantic 
vessels of commerce — not in the conquest for selfish 
gains alone, but in the struggle for civilization. This is 
the new evolution, the new change, the new Renaissance! 

In the present era, the world has assumed a more rapid 
stride. It swings along in its resistless course like the 
mechanism of a mighty timepiece, ever rapid, ever 
powerful, ever impelling! The world is moving along 
with an added energy. It sends forth its summons for 
men to do its work, to answer to its ever increasing de- 
mands. Whether in the pulpit, or on the battle-field; in 
the halls of Congress, or in the universities of learning; 
in the office, or on the construction crew, we must respond 
to its call — the call of duty. We must acquire the 
willing spirit, the skilled brain, and the trained hand to 
answer to its call. 

The burden of the work in the call of duty will fall 
upon the strong, that is, upon those who are best prepared 
to take up the work of mankind. It demands the best 
in manhood and in womanhood. There is little room 



206 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

for the weak. The labor must rest upon the men and 
women who stand prepared to face the storms of life. 

The task which lies before this generation is not an 
easy one. The days of Alexander, of Hannibal, of Na- 
poleon, of Lincoln, are passed. In the periods of history 
in which they lived, the strenuous activity of modern 
life was yet undreamed of, and the channel to success 
was not so difficult or so long to traverse. In an age like 
ours, even efforts like theirs would have been in vain. 
Had they attempted to gain their relative positions in 
this century with only the opportunities offered in their 
own, it would have proved a task superhuman. To-day 
the progress of the nation, in its strenuous life, claims only 
the fittest, only those who are adequately trained to 
compete and to maintain themselves, only those who 
are able to answer to the broader and higher call of duty. 

The man of the coming generation is the one who will 
give his entire energy to the development and to the prog- 
ress of society. It matters little in what occupation he 
may devote his efforts, but in order to maintain his posi- 
tion, he must give the best within him. It matters little 
whether he be farmer, or poet; artisan, or jurist; en- 
gineer, or teacher; business man, or President of the 
nation, he must contribute the best within him, if he will 
answer to the call of duty. 

Not only should he prepare himself adequately for his 
work before him, not only should he devote himself en- 
tirely to its promotion, but he should feel his obligation 
to the world. A man may know his duty, he may be 
conscious of it, but it will avail him nothing if he fails to 
practise it. The citizen must realize his duty to himself, 
to his fellow-citizens, to his nation, to the world! and 
should perform it with a willingness and a spirit sensible 
of the numerous favors bestowed upon him. 

This duty devolves not alone upon the head of the 



THE CALL OF DUTY 207 

nation, or the members of his cabinet; not alone upon 
the governors, or their assistants; not alone upon the 
great industrial magnates and their boards of directors, 
but upon all to share in the struggle for advancement. 
The struggle is one for commercial supremacy. To fit 
ourselves to fill a spoke in the gigantic wheel of progress; 
to expend our entire energy in impelling the wheel ever 
onward; to maintain its course in the proper channel; 
this must be our watchword, our aim, our duty! 



THE ROUGH RIDERS 
Haery Emerson Fosdick 

COLGATE UNIVERSITY 

(An oration delivered in competition for the Junior Historical Oration 
Prizes, Colgate University, 1899) 

They said we were divided; that the long scar between 
the North and South was still distinctly marked; that 
the keen knife of sectional contention had drawn its bitter 
edge between the East and West. They said democracy 
was lost; that capital sat upon the throne of empire; 
that an aristocracy of wealth were peers of the realm; 
that labor must beat with naked hands against the barred 
and bolted gates of privilege. They said that patriotism 
was dead; that the spirit which fired the flintlocks at 
Lexington and drove the charge at Saratoga, which ran 
the batteries at New Orleans and stayed the high tide 
of the Rebellion at Gettysburg, had been dissolved in 
sordid lust and mercenary greed. They that said it have 
been answered. Stirred by the cry of human need, 
touched by the magic of a hostile hand, martial America 
has made reply in the crowning representative of her life 
and character, — made of the stuff that makes America, 
trained with the discipline that shall preserve America, 
laurelled with victory which is America's destiny, — Roose- 
velt's Rough Riders. 

They were made of the stuff that makes America. 
They were the most cosmopolitan regiment that ever 
charged in battle. The importunate cry of suffering 
man, pleading for human sympathy and human help, 

208 



THE ROUGH RIDERS 209 

rang clarion-like from East to West, gathering from 
mountain and valley, from city and town, from hut and 
mansion, America's martial might; charging with Amer- 
ica's wrath the steel throats of cannon. Rich and poor, 
ignorant and learned, they came, of every race, occupa- 
tion, and religion, intrepidly driving their mailed fist 
between the Spaniard and his victim, until, victorious, 
upon the crest of San Juan Hill they stood, democracy 
triumphant ! 

In that embodiment of America's character, the ends 
of the earth met together. Race, rank, and creed were 
blended in that blazing forge of a people's indignation. 
There was the negro, under the flag that once was the 
symbol of his serfdom; the Indian and the Irishman were 
there, paying the utmost tribute of their lives, into the 
general coffers of the world's freedom; the sons of Plym- 
outh Rock were there, whose fathers fought at Lexing- 
ton, and Buena Vista, and Gettysburg ; Protestant and 
Catholic, Jew and Gentile, Confederate and Unionist; from 
Maine and Carolina, from the inland and the coast, — all 
welded on the anvil of a noble purpose by the hammer 
of a human cry. 

Well may the world pause at that first burial service 
on the summit of El Siboney. Far to the right, lifting 
their stony heads from the rank luxuriance of tropic 
forests, reach the hills of Santiago. To the left the dark 
gray of the ocean, and Sampson's ships, like watch-dogs, 
crouching about the door of the beleaguered harbor. Here 
upon the crest of Siboney they lay their martial dead, — 
a millionnaire, an Indian, a cowboy, a college athlete, — 
shoulder to shoulder in the common earth, wrapped with 
the same flag, all in the sombre community of death. 
"If a man die shall he live again?" Standing beside this 
mountain tomb, where America's character lies typified, 
we declare: "Men may die, but democracy is not dead. 



210 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

She liveth, and over these graves hath this day ' climbed 
the ridge of the world/ to her final duty and her appointed 
end." 

The Rough Riders were made of the stuff that makes 
America, and were trained with the discipline that shall 
preserve America. From club, camp, and cottage, with 
the untamed spirit of personal pride, with the undisci- 
plined sense of individual freedom, impatient of dictation, 
restless under law, they came to forge from their unamal- 
gamated strength a thunderbolt of avenging justice. 
From commonwealths of luxury where wish was law, from 
frontier cabins where human life grows rank in unchecked 
impulse, they came an untrained, unwelded mass, to do 
their country's bidding. There were men from the wild, 
loose warfare of the Western plains, from the prestige of 
aristocratic clubs, from the honorable influence of the 
Christian pulpit, from the intellectual culture of college 
halls; large, strong, commanding men, coined of true 
metal, stamped in the remorseless mint of life, used to 
being rung on the counters of the world. 

In three short months they were the trained and steady 
soldiers of the republic. The strong fingers of stringent 
training blended the discord of their separate strength 
into the march and roll of irresistible harmony. They 
were composite as America is; they were swayed by 
boundless love of personal freedom ; they were unenduring 
of compulsion or restraint. And yet, from the white 
heat of a nation's wrath they were run into the rigid mould 
of incorrigible discipline. There was neither variable- 
ness nor shadow of turning in the inexorable law. 
Through heat and rain, through sickness and fatigue, 
regardless of social rank or moneyed aristocracy, they 
who had volunteered to save their country, learned the 
lessons of obedient discipline, moulding their individual 
strength into one mighty engine of war. 



THE ROUGH RIDERS 211 

It was the discipline that shall preserve America. East, 
West, North, and South, the people of the earth are troop- 
ing to our shores. They come from lands of light and 
darkness, from homes of ignorance and culture. With 
every shade of racial disposition and inherited habit, 
with every stamp of religious bigotry and fanatic hatred, 
they are pouring their incongruous, inharmonious mass 
into our commonwealth; and through the lowering clouds 
that overhang the nation's future, lightning possibilities 
dart menacing tongues. Unassimilated, undisciplined, 
the hordes of immigration throng our gates, more potent 
for evil than the invading armaments of a Napoleon, 
more pregnant with disaster than the hostile armadas of 
the world. Startled by the portentous imminence of 
dissolution, the anxious heart of the nation thrilled with 
deep, unutterable joy, at sight of this representative 
regiment of composite America, drawn to unity, moulded 
into common effort, blended into an irresistible force by 
the inspiration of a principle and the magic of discipline. 
For in that resistless flight from Guasimas to Santiago, 
they typified the hope of America and the permanence 
of her democracy. From the broad edges of the world, 
thrusting their blind disunion on the nation's life, shall 
come all races, all ranks, all creeds, to be made one in 
sacrifice; and the educative discipline of civic growth in a 
land worth living and dying for, shall, with an inexorable 
seal, stamp them citizens of the republic. 

The Rough Riders were made of the stuff that makes 
America, were trained with the discipline that shall 
preserve America, and were laurelled with the victory which 
is America's destiny. That was the glory of it all ! New- 
forged and all untried, they bent themselves to break the 
throttle-grip of Spain upon the Cuban. All hot with 
their new enthusiasm, they struggled through the tangled 
swamp and tropic forest, where the wispy spirits of the 



212 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

fever lay, through jungled glens where Spaniards kept 
their ambush. On hands and knees, tearing their tardy 
way with sabres and naked fingers, undismayed by bar- 
riers, unwavering in the face of fire, unblanched by the 
crawling arms of pallid mist that brought the death, 
they threw their line, a slender, attenuated line of brown, 
about the base of San Juan Hill. No cannon, no reserve, 
no intrenchments! Alone, with the work laid out, and 
before them an avenue grim and foreboding, stretching 
under the glare of high noon, away up there to the black 
muzzles and dark faces. 

"They heard no bugle peal to thrill, 
As they crouched in the tangled grass, 
But the sound of bullets whirring shrill 
From hidden hollow and shrouded hill. 
And they fought as only the valiant will, 
From the glades of Guasimas." 

For in the jungle where they sweltered no man could 
see his fellow; only the enemy, and that one figure away 
to the front, gathering his forces like magic with the fer- 
vor of his presence. It was Roosevelt and the men were 
ready. "Come on, boys," and the thrill and pulse of the 
charge stirred the line. "Come on, boys," — and the 
roller of the wave of brown swept towards the crest as 
the Atlantic sweeps on the cliffs of Newfoundland. Torn 
by plunging shot, they did not hesitate; raked with burst- 
ing shell, they did not turn. The thunder of cannon 
bade them halt, the ping of the mausers whispered it in 
their ears, the slash of the machete engraved it on their 
flesh; but the spirits of the cannon's breath beckoned 
them on, on to the crest, until with messages of victory, 
the hills were blazoned ! 

And the men who had swung the gateway of a new era 
rested in their trenches. 



THE CONSERVATION OF OUR NATURAL 
RESOURCES 

Shirley W. Allen 

IOWA STATE COLLEGE 
(Awarded second place in the Iowa State Oratorical Contest of 1909) 

The history of our nation teems with stories of threat- 
ened disasters which have been apprehended and dealt 
with in a wise and statesmanlike manner. Wherever a 
call has been made to fight for principle and country, 
thousands of noble men have responded. But the duty 
of citizenship in time of peace is as great as in time of war, 
and the practical problems of our national household 
present no small opportunity for the display of genuine 
patriotism. Never before have we been face to face with 
so serious a menace as now confronts us — the rapid 
exhaustion of our natural resources. The very fact that 
our national stores have been so vast in extent has blinded 
us to the truth that their exploitation must be regulated 
if they are to be sufficient for the needs of our rapidly 
increasing population. The time has come for an invoice 
of our mineral and timber wealth, for a clearer understand- 
ing of the value of our waterways and of our swamps and 
desert lands. 

Let us glance for a moment at conditions as they exist 
and have existed. 

The story of the waste of our fuel resources is charac- 
terized by a prodigal lack of foresight almost beyond 
belief. Thousands of years in the colossal laboratory of 
nature have converted vegetation, which once covered 

213 



214 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

this land, into the fuel which to-day produces heat and 
power for hundreds of purposes. In the early days of 
our history, this fuel, which we call coal, had only such a 
value as the labor of mining could give it. If one-third 
of a seam could be removed with less labor and more 
profit proportionally than the whole seam, such a course 
was invariably followed. Later, when coal became more 
widely known and used, the capitalist sought out only the 
most available deposits, where, by the use of immense 
pillars of the coal itself as supports for the protection of 
roadways and workrooms, and by subsequent accidents 
due to mistakes in mine engineering and other causes, 
vast quantities of this useful substance, varying from ten 
to fifty per cent of the total deposits, were reentombed, 
to be recovered only at an enormous expense. 

In the production of coal and oil the waste of natural 
gas is tremendous. At this very moment, according to 
an eminent authority, while exploiting corporations send 
up the whine of "Let us alone," this splendid fuel is es- 
caping into the air within our boundaries from uncon- 
trolled gas and oil wells, and from leaking pipe lines, at 
the rate of one billion of cubic feet daily — the heating 
equivalent of one million bushels of coal. What excuse 
for such extravagance shall posterity receive at the hands 
of our own generation ? 

Few of us, I dare say, have paused to consider the great 
necessity of such a homely commodity as wood, in the 
growth and development of the country. What is true 
of the individual must be true, to a great extent, of the 
nation. As an individual, the babe is rocked in a wooden 
cradle, his toys are made largely from wood, from child- 
hood and on to maturity he is sheltered by a wooden house, 
he eats from a wooden table, is perhaps warmed by a wood 
fire, reads and becomes educated because paper, made 
from wood, by the aid of the printer's ink transmits the 



CONSERVATION OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES 215 

best of thought and knowledge. If such a programme, 
then, is necessary to the individual, how much more is it 
essential to the nation itself. In Europe sixty feet of 
timber board measure per year suffices for each man, 
woman, and child, but here in America the amount con- 
sumed annually per capita is five hundred feet. It is an 
alarming fact that, during the past year, we have removed 
from our forests a quantity of timber equal to more than 
three times the yearly amount of growth. Cutting at 
such a rate, our virgin forests will last less than thirty 
years, and the method of treatment used on our timber- 
land heretofore has not been such as to insure even a half 
crop as a second cutting. More of our timber has been 
burned than has ever been cut and used. Journey with 
me upon one of our fast trains to the North, to the West, 
or to the South. When we enter a dense forest of pine, 
glance from the window, and there you will see veterans 
beneath whose branches bloody wars have been waged 
and forgotten, within whose lifetime nations have become 
great and died. As you view for miles and miles the vast 
array of forest, with only now and then the gleam of the 
surveyor's steel or the blaze of the timberman's axe, per- 
haps a feeling of security, born of the assurance of a boun- 
tiful harvest, dispels from your mind any thought so 
alarming as that of timber famine. But continue to gaze 
from the window as we dash over a pine barren, as we 
discern in the distance the smoke of a forest fire, as we 
note the waste in the tall stump left by the lumber-jack, 
as the screech of a dozen sawmills drowns the roar of the 
train, — then think as we steam into the city: Have we 
in all our journey seen the young tree, the bending sapling, 
or the swaying pole? "Ay! there's the rub!" They 
who say that we face a timber famine are not " calamity 
howlers," as certain people have been wont to believe; 
they are far-sighted, practical statesmen who sound a 



216 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

warning cry that must not be ignored. The conservation 
of this resource does not require that our forests shall be 
locked up, nor that the cutting of trees shall be prohibited; 
it looks to the use of the timber, but it demands the prac- 
tice of forestry, which means the rational treatment and 
use of the forest with due attention to its protection and 
reproduction. The very nature of the forest resource, 
namely, that it is renewable, adds enormous weight to 
our responsibility, and we may expect but the curses of 
posterity, if we who have found an abundance destroy 
without thought for the needs of the future. The care- 
less sportsman who leaves his camp-fire unquenched, the 
greedy lumber-king who allows his slashings to become a 
very tinder box to set the woods ablaze, the misled state 
which overtaxes timber land within its borders, and we 
who sit idly by and claim to know nothing of conditions, 
— all must answer for such criminal waste. 

No phase of the great conservation question is of greater 
importance than that which deals with the dependence of 
stream flow upon forest-covered watersheds. A canopy 
of foliage serves to break the force of pelting rains, and the 
heavy mulch upon the forest floor acts as a great sponge to 
hold the water and to give it out slowly to the thousands 
of springs and to the streams which rise in the cool moun- 
tain woods. But our highlands are deforested, and in 
the springtime great gullies are washed in the hillsides, 
as mighty torrents rage down to destroy thousands of 
homes and lives. The floods subside, and the fertile 
bottom-lands are covered with stones and useless clay; 
agriculture is impossible; streams are filled with sand, 
and as the dryer season comes on, factories depending 
upon water-power are paralyzed. This has been the awful 
truth in many localities of the southern Appalachian 
region, and be it said to the eternal shame of certain 
politicians, — a bill calling for the purchase of such land 



CONSERVATION OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES 217 

as is covered by these watersheds, to be regulated with 
regard to the cutting of timber, has failed session after 
session to come to a vote in the lower house of our national 
legislature. Nor are these politicians and so-called states- 
men, who have blocked such legislation, from the region to 
be affected by it, but from the North, whose people at the 
close of the great Civil War bade their southern brothers to 
beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into 
pruning-hooks, and practice peaceful arts. Is it not a 
positive duty of the government to preserve for the loyal 
Americans of the South this greatest of all resources — 
an agricultural soil ? 

In the West great reservoirs of forest growth, on the 
higher slopes, shall store the snows and rains, meting out 
moisture in regular flow to water arid lands and bring them 
into fruitfulness. 

Strip off the trees from our watersheds; neglect to re- 
stock areas already denuded, and the thirty millions of 
horse-power, now available in our streams, will be rapidly 
dissipated; the development of inland waterways, and the 
consequent solution of the internal commerce problem 
will be impossible; the millions of money spent annually 
on river and harbor improvements will be all but lost, and 
the old French proverb, "No forests, no rivers," will be 
almost a reality. 

1 Should our supply of fuel become suddenly exhausted 
on this very night, should floods and fires devastate our 
land from ocean to ocean, burying every fertile valley in 
hopeless debris, should we not curse the hand which caused 
such ruin ? Should we not be driven to other lands or 
die on the miserable desert ? And yet, although by our 
present course such ultimate ruin is inevitable, we sit 
with folded hands, without so much as forming definite 
opinions concerning the use of natural resources, to say 
nothing of telling our congressmen what we think of legis- 
lation upon this subject ! 



218 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

We have in these United States a Conservation Com- 
mission, a body of statesmen and experts recently ap- 
pointed by our chief executive, whose business it is to take 
stock of our natural resources, to carry on an educational 
campaign, and to recommend necessary legislation. This 
commission is made up of able, patriotic men, a thor- 
oughly representative group, which believes that "the 
great natural resources supply the material basis upon 
which our civilization must continue to depend, and upon 
which the perpetuity of the nation itself rests." The 
commission works in cooperation with the individual 
state commissions recently appointed for the purpose 
of investigating local conditions, and with the various 
scientific bureaus of the government. The Geological 
Survey, the Reclamation Service, the Bureau of Soils, 
and the Forest Service are all able to assist in this great 
work along their particular lines of activity, but their 
work shall be coordinated, — the use of each of our re- 
sources shall be made to aid in the development of all the 
others. Conservation is a single question, and the com- 
mission, to which the leadership of this movement has been 
delegated, is doing splendid work; the publicity which its 
reports are receiving is making facts which heretofore 
have been known only to a few experts the property of 
the public at large. It has given to Congress data on 
the subject which makes legislative duty clear and definite. 

Here is an instance of practical statesmanship. Prac- 
tical, I say, because it is not led merely by the cry of the 
sentimentalist, "Woodman, spare that tree !" but be- 
cause it makes a direct appeal to the common sense of 
every thinking citizen ! It is a grand campaign, a war 
against waste and vandalism, and every private citizen 
must help; he must be in sympathy with the work; he 
must keep abreast of the times and support the policies 
which look to the wise use of our national stores, for not 



CONSERVATION OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES 219 

until American public sentiment demands it, will such 
policies be written in the law. Let not the pessimist open 
his mouth in protest. Let not the optimist feel himself 
secure. Let not the practical man fail to act. Each must 
bear his own share of responsibility in this great work, 
for while it is not ours to bleed and die for our country, 
it is ours to stand by her in this gigantic struggle in time 
of peace. " Let us conserve the foundations of our pros- 
peri ty." 



A CRISIS IN AMERICAN ECONOMICS 
Ckate Dalton 

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY 

(This oration was awarded first place in the Texas State Oratorical Con- 
test of 1907, and was later delivered in the Southern Oratorical Contest 
at Monteagle, Tennessee.) 

The mission intrusted to the infant American nation 
was one of unparalleled opportunities and tremendous 
responsibilities. Nation after nation, given wealth and 
power in the past, had misused its endowment and paid 
the inevitable penalty of decay and death. To the sturdy 
Anglo-Saxon, lately liberated from an Egyptian bondage 
both governmental and economic, was now intrusted, 
on a vast and virgin field, the sacred cause of democracy 
in doubtful and deadly conflict with political and in- 
dustrial despotism. The continent of North America, 
ploughed by mighty glaciers, torn by tempest and torrent, 
leveled and enriched by vast inland seas, and later lifted 
and adjusted by titanic upheavals, presented both an 
isolated and favorable field for the triumphant establish- 
ment of a glorious republic, and also a wide and wonderful 
laboratory where might be worked out for all ages and all 
peoples those economic problems which often mean more 
to the multitude than government itself. 

The revolutionary political influence of the successful 
American republic upon the governments of the world 
has been told by a thousand tongues, and shall be told in 
tearful thankfulness by thousands more where now the 
lisping of " Liberty!" is treason. But not until we had 

220 



A CRISIS IN AMERICAN ECONOMICS 221 

reached the divide between the nineteenth and twentieth 
centuries and there paused for a backward look, did we 
realize the extent or importance of our magnificent achieve- 
ments in the realm of economics. Standing there in proud 
surprise, some of our truest thinkers slowly came to realize 
the true extent of America's mission, — to know at last 
that our enormous economic endowment was not given 
merely for our aggrandizement, nor yet to sustain a great 
government, but that we might safely solve for all the 
world the pressing and imperative problems of daily life 
and living. 

To our selfish indifference or greed in the past and to 
the dazzling splendor of our recent backward glance is 
due, however, the shameful fact that we have permitted, 
and still permit, to go unchecked many wanton wastes 
of our public wealth. These irretrievable losses threaten, 
unless checked and checked soon, to create complications 
which will endanger the dearest ideals of our democracy 
and seriously imperil our proud preeminence in the world's 
commerce, and promise ultimately to prevent America's 
fulfillment of her mighty mission. 

Even when viewed from a strictly monetary stand- 
point, the aggregate of these economic losses is appalling. 
The wholesale destruction of our once far-reaching forests 
has cost the lumbermen alone more than a thousand 
million dollars, while the retail price of lumber is doubling 
every five years. Exhausting and deadening demands 
upon our once fertile fields have robbed them of their 
richness, and aided by radical changes in rainfall due to 
forest destruction, have made many of them permanently 
unproductive. The abandoned farms of New England 
and the gullied fields of old Virginia are alike monuments 
to public ignorance and private greed. The greater cost 
of coal, directly and vitally affecting both manufacture 
and transportation, is, again, largely due to greedy 



222 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

methods of mining which, seeking greater immediate 
returns, have rendered forever inaccessible millions of 
tons of only medium richness. These same wantonly 
wasteful methods have also done irreparable damage in 
the mining of other minerals, thus decreasing for all time 
the world's available wealth. And often, notably in 
California, the Eden of America, not merely mining but 
agriculture has suffered, and whole valleys have been irre- 
trievably ruined in man's greed for the gold which makes 
him mad. Rich as America was and is, she is infinitely 
and permanently poorer because of the past and present 
prodigality of her ignorant or selfish citizenship. 

These wanton wastes of our material resources, besides 
lamentably lessening the national wealth as a whole, are 
daily affecting more adversely and more vitally our in- 
dividual citizens. The home builder, for instance, finds 
the cost of construction alone a sum which, twenty years 
ago, would have built his house, furnished it fitly, and 
provided food and fuel for months, if not for years. Ex- 
cept where radically lessened by improved machinery, 
the cost of almost every article of consumption has greatly 
increased, especially within the last decade; and we to-day 
are paying prices which a proper conservation of our 
resources would probably have postponed for decades; 
if not for centuries. 

This increased cost of living has created or brought to a 
critical stage both economic problems of tremendous 
import to our people, and social, political, and moral 
questions upon whose right solution may depend the very 
perpetuity of our republic. With the crushing cost of 
food and fuel and shelter and clothing for their families 
daily piled higher upon them, what wonder that working- 
men make increased demands upon their employers, and 
grow to hate the hand that seems to withhold their due ? 
What wonder that weak women and unschooled children 



A CRISIS IN AMERICAN ECONOMICS 223 

are forced into factories to eke out the weekly wage ? 
What wonder that preachers of socialism and other 
radical and revolutionary remedies find ready converts 
among the masses ? And what wonder that many men 
and women make moral shipwreck of their lives and 
become " dangerous and destructive derelicts on the sea of 
society"? 

But more saddening than any loss of material wealth 
is the knowledge that so many of our most brilliant in- 
tellects have prostituted their superb powers to the direct 
damage of the public interests, betrayed the high trust, 
financial or political, reposed in them by the people, and 
set examples of greed and graft whose blasting influence 
upon American morals and upon our nation's fair name 
can be contemplated only with the deepest humiliation. 

The final and by far the most terrible charge in the im- 
peachment of American economics yet remains. Profess- 
ing to place our imperial manhood in proud preeminence 
above all our material wealth, we annually maim and 
murder through criminal carelessness hundreds of thou- 
sands of our best and bravest. Upon some vast plain dis- 
pose in an awful funeral pyre the five thousand strangled 
victims of the Johnstown flood, call from sea and shore 
the blanched bodies of Galveston's sudden sacrifice, 
exhume the victims of Mount Pelee's wrath, and for the 
apex of the ghastly pyramid seek out the slain of San 
Francisco's shock and flame; and yet — and yet! — 
your sickening structure reaches not half so high as would 
the fifty thousand of our citizens killed outright through 
criminal carelessness during the twelve short months 
of 1906 ! Over the half million merely maimed or other- 
wise injured, we draw the curtain of pitying silence. But 
may we make mention of the millions to whom life — 
life in our glorious America — is but a living death ? Of 
the half-starved, half-stifled inhabitants of our city 



224 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

slums ? Of the white-faced, prematurely aged "men and 
women of to-morrow" with strength and spirit sapped by 
slavish service in factory systems almost infernal? 

And let us remember that these human sacrifices to the 
god of gold are not Chinese coolies nor Russian peasants; 
but free Americans, possessing potentialities practically 
limitless, in this, the most wonderful century the world 
has ever seen. The railway employee, sent crashing to 
sudden death, might have been a Harriman or a Hill to 
open to the world vast empires of productive territory. 
The young mechanic, mangled by some unmuzzled iron 
monster, might have proved a Whitney or an Edison to 
assist by his genius the solution of the practical problems 
which play so important a part in America's economic 
mission. The sadly stooped and sunken-eyed child-slave, 
going almost gladly to an untimely grave, if given his 
boyish birthright to a childhood of sunshine and school- 
ing, might have been an apostle of some great gospel of 
peace, lifting his people and the world to a higher plane 
of brotherhood. 

Such, then, are some of our wanton wastes, our economic 
failures, our careless crimes, of the past, the penalties 
for which will make posterity poorer through coming 
centuries. But even these appalling penalties sink into 
insignificance beside those we must inevitably pay if we 
continue our wasteful course. Our resources at last are 
limited. Even the domestic demands of a population 
now increasing over four millions a year cannot be met at 
present prices. Without the most careful conservation, 
prices must inevitably rise rapidly, and thus render des- 
perately acute those conditions which now mean misery 
to multiplied millions, and constitute a serious menace to 
both our economic and political safety and success. 

Abroad, the effects of these economic conditions already 
imperil our prominence in the rapidly widening markets of 



A CRISIS IN AMERICAN ECONOMICS 225 

the world. Keener competition by European nations and, 
in the Orient, by the New Japan, makes any increase in 
our cost of production dangerous, if not destructive, to pur 
international trade. Moreover, our moral prestige among 
the peoples of the earth is endangered, not only through 
lessening commercial prominence in certain quarters, but 
also more directly by the inconsistencies in our political, 
economic, and moral conduct — inconsistencies only too 
eagerly seized upon and magnified by unscrupulous rivals. 
Already our nation, seemingly giving the lie to her pro- 
fessed principles of absolute equality and fraternity, and 
madly coining into gold the life-blood of her citizens, finds 
her professions of fitness as political and economic exem- 
plar and preceptor for the world met with suspicion or 
with open scorn. In the light of such grave conditions, 
both at home and abroad, further wastefulness — of 
America's material wealth, of her mental acumen, or of 
her imperial manhood — - becomes a conscious crime : in 
the name of her high and holy mission, it must stop ! 

To-day, after decades of selfish indifference, the de- 
mands of our faithful economists for reform are begin- 
ning to be heard and heeded. The study of economics is 
being fostered in college and public school; and press 
and platform are being enlisted in a campaign for popu- 
lar education along economic lines. In this propaganda 
the national government is actively and earnestly aiding, 
especially by means of its many bureaus, with their fre- 
quent bulletins delivered free at factory gate and farm- 
house door. The heavy hand of federal law has been laid 
alike on little lumberman and senatorial timber-thief; and 
seventy thousand square miles of forests have been rescued 
and set aside in national reserves. State and national 
legislation, recently enacted or now pending, promises 
many other reforms. And of even greater importance and 
richer promise than legislation or leadership, is the wide- 



226 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

spread awakening of our citizenship to a realization of the 
inevitable result of selfishness — individual, incorporate, 
or national. The revelations of " frenzied finance," of 
filthy factories, and of governmental graft have served 
to shock us to our senses, and for the moment the god of 
gold has lost his fatal fascination. Shall we selfishly and 
slavishly sink back into his service and be forever shorn 
of our strength ; or shall we rise in the might of American 
manhood and seek to insure against every foe, within or 
without our borders, the safety of our democracy and the 
success of her mighty world-mission ? 

America's high success or shameful failure hangs in the 
balance not only at home, but abroad. Her commercial 
position, upon which so largely depends her political, 
educational, and moral influence upon the world, may be 
forever fixed by the deeds of this decade. Strong and 
strenuous rivals stand in eager readiness to seize her every 
vantage-ground should she fail or even falter. South 
America, at our very doors, is slowly but surely slipping 
into the grasp of the German; Africa, " ready from Cape 
to Cairo," finds us only half prepared to play our part; 
China, an empire of empires, her countless millions awak- 
ening hungry from the sleep of centuries, is turning her 
eager eyes from money-mad America to patriotic, victo- 
rious Japan, the ally of England and the logical rival of 
America throughout the East. 

An hour may precipitate a crisis with which our nation, 
sapped of her pristine strength and power, cannot expect 
to cope. Already the fateful balance slowly turns toward 
failure. To-morrow the dread sentence may fall. Shall 
we stand selfishly aside and see our beloved land, stripped 
of her rich insignia at the bar of Eternal Justice, surrender- 
ing her mighty mission to more worthy hands, and going 
out into the darkness to sleep in shame with forgotten 
failures of the past ? 



A CRISIS IN AMERICAN ECONOMICS 227 

Shall we not rather, scorning to count the cost, throw 
ourselves, our all, into the rising scale of her success, 
rejoicing in our sacrifice if only we may hear from the lips 
of our nation's awful Judge the glorious decree : " America, 
example and teacher of truth and righteousness to all the 
tribes of earth, thou hast atoned thy early selfishness and 
sin; come thou to thy rightful kingdom in the hearts of all 
mankind !" 



THE NEXT STEP IN OUR ECONOMIC 
DEVELOPMENT 

Leonakd F. Chapman 

VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY 

(An oration delivered in the contest of the Southern Intercollegiate 
Oratorical Association, 1909) \ 

The world belongs to us. Some of it we have sold to 
our customers. Some of it we have kept for ourselves. 
Some of it we have left undisturbed. Some of it we have 
cheerfully wasted. What shall be done with that which 
remains to us ? What shall be the next step ? 

The greatness of any nation is dependent in a large 
measure upon the wealth of its natural resources. The 
discovery of a commodity of trade is opportunity's call 
to wealth and power. The history of the rise of England, 
for instance, is the history of her coal and iron trade ; the 
islands were filled with savages, until the merchants of 
the Mediterranean and the Rhine began to dig out her 
metals; then marts of trade grew up; England climbed 
into industrial prominence; London became the centre 
of trade. 

Not for nothing have 40,000,000 people been living for 
a hundred years on this side of the Atlantic. We have 
been levelling forests, digging mines, reaping harvests, 
with ceaseless energy; Carlisle thought that we were try- 
ing to exhaust our resources before South America's were 
opened up. But out of our forests, fields, mines, and plains 
have come great cities; civilization has selected its capi- 
tal in the West, and by virtue of our great wealth London 

228 



THE NEXT STEP IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 229 

has a twin rival just across the Atlantic in the city of New 
York. 

In the exchange of trade, in the dictation of interna- 
tional policy, in the delicate work of mapping out the 
boundaries of the various nations of the earth, America 
has figured largely. More space has been covered during 
the century and a quarter occupied by America's national 
life than during the preceding six thousand years which 
take us back to the earliest monuments of Egypt and the 
first city of the Babylonian plain. America has shifted 
the lines of trade till they play across her borders; she has 
established the highways of the earth; she has cleared 
the way to the East by way of the West. In fact, Mr. 
Gladstone declared upon the floor of the Parliament of 
England that the growth of this nation marks one of the 
most striking and important chapters in the history of 
the world. And the basis of all of America's activity is 
her wonderful wealth in natural resources. A nation's 
progress may be measured very accurately in terms of 
smoke stacks. 

Now, the conservation of our natural resources contem- 
plates doing away with the wanton destruction and the 
careless waste of whatever remains to us. Such a doc- 
trine does not advise any curtailment of benefits; it simply 
advises the use of our wealth for the greatest good of the 
greatest number for the longest time. It means much that 
we turn our land from desert conditions into teeming 
industrial and educational activity, but it is just as im- 
portant that the next generation be prosperous. 

America's resources divide themselves into two well- 
defined classes, — the surface and the underground re- 
sources. The underground, which supplies the light, 
heat, and power, are made only once in the creation of the 
world, and they will be exhausted as certainly as if the 
time of their total depletion were at hand, unless sensible, 



230 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

practical conservation is now and hereafter enforced. 
Since they cannot be renewed, we can do nothing but 
adopt a practical system of economy. Our surface re- 
sources include the land upon which we live, and which 
yields our food; the waters which fertilize the soil, supply 
power, and form great avenues of commerce; and the 
forest which yields the material for our home, prevent 
erosion of the soil, and conserve the navigation of our 
streams. These are parts of a system of natural economy, 
and are interdependent. It is useless to try to save one 
without saving them all. These are renewable and may 
be made everlasting. Forests equalize precipitation, and 
protect the soil. The soil supports the forest. The 
rivers carry surplus water to the sea. So we must go into 
the business of wholesale conservation, or stay out alto- 
gether; retail conservation will bankrupt the govern- 
ment and accomplish nothing. 

The conservation of our resources is based upon an 
urgent and imperative industrial and commercial neces- 
sity. Forestry does not make its appeal through the sense 
of public duty. It is "to be or not to be." You cannot 
have a country worth living in without forests, and the 
proof of it is the history of the world. Tell me why the 
far-famed valley of the Euphrates, the cradle of the human 
race, once as beautiful as a dream with its forests and 
waters, is now a dreary waste ? The country in which the 
forests have been swept from the hillsides, the land de- 
nuded and made worthless for agricultural purposes, 
has drained the sources of its wealth. New York City 
spent $150,000,000 to build a reservoir at Kingston from 
which to get water for her 4,000,000 people; but if New 
York City does not protect the fields upon the historic 
Catskills, that reservoir will have been built in vain. If 
they destroy God's reservoir under the trees, they can 
never build one as good. England and Germany are 



THE NEXT STEP IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 231 

looking towards South America, because South America's 
resources have not been depleted. If we expect to hold 
our place of unrivalled prominence, we must preserve 
unimpaired by foundations of commercial advantage. 

Now, the question is squarely before us: How can 
forests, rivers, and soils be made everlasting ? The answer 
is complex, but there is an answer. 

Forest life has a vast deal more to do with the surface 
condition of a country than the average layman is willing 
to admit. Both soils and streams are dependent upon 
our forests. Our timber lands equalize the rainfall, 
distribute drainage, and prevent erosion of the soil, so 
that silt and sediment are not washed into the rivers to 
choke the channels, and floods are not so disastrous. 
Compare the Hudson, which rolls in lordly grandeur to the 
sea, visited neither by dangerous floods nor low water, 
and the Rio Grande, which is now a raging torrent ten 
miles wide and now a dry sand bed. The Hudson is the 
product of the northern forests, and the Rio Grande is 
the offspring of the treeless plains. 

If forests are not invaluable to a country, what would 
be the conditions to-day, if, through some great force in 
nature, every tree should be swept from the face of Ten- 
nessee ? Would not the home of every wild bird and 
untamed animal be destroyed ? Would not every stream 
be uncovered ? Would not the surface of the land be 
like the roof of a building, on which the water would fall 
and run off immediately to the streams and down to the 
sea ? Would not the price of agricultural land depreciate 
50 per cent in 50 minutes ? Would not chaos reign to- 
morrow ? If these things would not follow, then the his- 
tory of France is false. Three hundred years ago France 
swept her forests from her hillsides, and its soil was eroded 
and washed into her harbors. If what I say is not true, 
then France in reforesting her mountains has spent 



232 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

$200,000,000 for nothing. We must save our forests 
first if we would save the foundations of our commerce. 

This is the work of the government; its magnitude 
overpasses the sphere of the State and the individual. 
Natural resources are not restricted to the lines of a county 
or State ; their extent is as wide as that of the nation, and 
their benefits reach every citizen. The improvement of 
the Mississippi, which should be made a loop of the sea, 
will traverse the length of seven States and concern half 
our people. The protection and replanting of forests by 
the square mile cannot be done by a few. It is not possible 
to frame so large a plan without the consent and authority 
of the federal government. The people reap the benefits, 
the people should pay for them. If a policy is outlined by 
the national government, every organization from State 
to corporation should press the issue. Let us be domi- 
nated for once by a patriotic imperialism ! Sectionalism 
and disunion have been the most terrible realities of our 
nation's history; New England threatened secession; 
years before South Carolina, in a blind way, led the way. 
But as North and South alike rallied on the field of battle 
in 1898, so let North and South rally to the prosecution 
of industrial conquest. This is America! Whatever 
must be done, can be done; and we believe it shall be 
done. 

But what shall be done ? First, funds must be placed 
at the disposal of a National Conservation Commission. 
Second, each State must have an active Conservation 
Committee. Third, Congress and the Legislatures could 
back these commissions in their work. This is not a 
question of States' rights, it is a question of a State's 
perpetuity. 

Now, the work of these bodies — and this is the whole 
proposition — shall consist in lessening the waste of our 
timber, and in making our streams navigable. 



THE NEXT STEP IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 233 

The great foes of our forests are fire and waste. Of 
the standing timber, $160,000,000 worth goes up in 
smoke in the course of each fall and winter. These fires 
burn occasionally for days and weeks. It is surely a fear- 
ful thing to see the demons of nature at their work, and 
their work takes on terrible proportions when it eats away 
the foundations of a country's prosperity. The waste of 
the lumber business, if not so terrible as the ravages of 
fire, is more pitiable. Sixteen million cords of yellow pine 
were cut in 1907, and half of this was allowed to go to waste. 
The great problems of forest conservation cannot be solved 
by the emotional hysteria of a country; we need such cold 
facts as fire patrol and entire absence of rotting logs. 

There are 25,000 miles of navigated water within the 
borders of the United States, and 30,000 miles more which 
may be put into navigation. This total, 55,000 miles of 
navigated waters, the finest system of water transportation 
in the world, may be perpetuated by the construction of 
locks and storage reservoirs along the courses of the 
streams, by planting forests along the head waters, and by 
dredging the beds. We shall need this system because our 
railroads cannot handle our traffic to-day, and shall be- 
come increasingly deficient. We shall need them for the 
protection of our international commerce. Canada will 
build the Georgian Bay Canal, and this will demoralize 
our Atlantic export grain trade, unless we have a deep- 
water mouth from the Lakes to the Gulf, by which to offer 
equal advantages. 

The great foe of our waterways is the deposit of sedi- 
ment. Sand bars are built up in a night by floods. Every 
river has its coterie of channel workers; $8,815,000 was 
spent by the government in 1907 in dredging the streams 
of the Mississippi Valley. The State of Mississippi must 
dig the farms of Minnesota out of the river before large 
boats can pass. In such erosion there is a double loss, — 



234 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

loss in the value of the land and in the expense of removal 
from our streams. If the drainage status of our river 
system had been unchanged in the last four hundred years, 
our streams would take care of themselves. For count- 
less ages they rolled their living waters to the sea; upon 
their bosoms might have floated the mightiest fleets of 
the earth without undue fear of shoals and bars. These 
streams, however, are rapidly becoming sluggish and 
heavy with mud, and we must save them while we can. 

In conservation lies our industrial future. Carelessness 
is fatal. We must, and we shall, reforest our wide moun- 
tain areas. We shall hold back the water to irrigate our 
arid land, to turn the wheels of industry, to maintain the 
channels of navigation. Soon our conservation scheme 
will be working with reasonable precision. Our wastes will 
be reduced to the minimum ; the river channels will be kept 
open to commerce. In a word, the basis of our wealth will 
be saved to us. 

This is no small undertaking, but the benefits are worthy 
of the price. First, we shall have an improved individ- 
ual. Richer farms and cheaper transportation will bring 
their first benefits to the man who works for himself. 
This will make for character; and character is the select- 
est bulwark of any people. Second, a united people. 
When the chief arteries of commerce carry the streams 
of trade from State to State, provincialism shall give way 
to altruism. Altruism will draw still closer the bonds of 
good-will, confidence, and respect. We shall become one 
people, — one in impulse, one in action, one in thought. 
In such an event the South shall become chief beneficiary. 
Her resources are vast and by conservation may be 
made everlasting. This means domestic and interna- 
tional trade; which in its turn brings power. The 
Mississippi River will turn much of her flow of trade from 
our Central States across the South to Gulf ports. This 



THE NEXT STEP IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 235 

will relieve the South of her provincial atmosphere and 
place her in direct touch with the outer world. The 
cities which have been builded upon the banks of our 
streams shall become the central pillars of the republic. 
Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, Atlanta, Birming- 
ham, Memphis, St. Louis, shall become great centres of 
finance and industry. Lastly, the basis of greatness shall 
be made eternal. We shall put all our idle powers to 
work, and save the waste for national defence. It be- 
comes us to have a care for the future. Poverty no 
less than crime brings doom. Here is the South's op- 
portunity; her resources need only development; the 
North must win hers back. 

And yet the nation that puts its trust in wealth alone 
is a weak nation. Wealth must give leisure for the making 
of character, the writing of oratorios, the cultivation of 
art and letters. Wealth should make men worth giving 
to the world. To America shall all nations look for 
leadership in the manly graces. The virtues of this land 
should strengthen the weaker peoples of the earth. In 
such a sphere shall we find our best work. The conserva- 
tion of American resources, the building up of American 
manhood, the perfecting of American ideals, and the in- 
telligent and friendly use of American power, — these are 
the elements which shall make an everlasting covenant 
between America and the world. 



ALEXANDER STEPHENS 

Eakl Stewart 

STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 

(Awarded second place in the Contest of the Northern Oratorical League, 

1908) 

The fire of genius must be fed by the vigor of physical 
health, if greatest success would be attained. This seems 
to be the elemental law of nature. The works of strong 
minds in strong bodies are the favorite themes of history 
and literature. The wrath of an Achilles or the splendor 
of an Alexander is sung through countless generations. 
United Germany reveres her Bismarck, and the "Iron 
Chancellor's" perseverance was supported by a giant 
frame. We esteem the memory of Washington, and he 
rejoiced in the strength of a superb manhood. We ad- 
mire the record of Lincoln, struggling up from the log 
cabin, and this man was thrilled with abounding life. 
Whether born of greatness, or achieving it in spite of hard- 
ship, the master intellects who have received the applause 
of the world, have gloried in a rugged vitality impelling 
them to accomplishment. But when a man, deprived of 
the prestige of power, denied the refinement of the cul- 
tured, stripped, even, of the joys of the sordid and mean, 
wrestling night and day with pallid Disease, — when such 
a man rises to meet the crisis of a state, then, passing the 
bounds of admiration and esteem, we arrive at a lofty 
enthusiasm for the indomitable will, that, scorning the 
trammels of circumstance, makes stepping-stones of dead 

236 



ALEXANDER STEPHENS 237 

selves left behind, and gains the heights. We feel our- 
selves kindling with that exaltation that comes from spirit- 
ual contact with a noble soul. 

Down in the lonely swamps of pioneer Georgia, grew up 
a boy amid rough scenes of drunkenness and profligacy. 
Poverty oppressed his being with the dire question of 
existence. He was denied the tenderness of a mother's 
love and the strength of a father's influence. Ravaged 
by fever, the orphan grew into manhood with a body 
frail, diseased, emaciated. Without home ties, without 
friends, without money, without health, the future gave 
no gleam of hope, no promise but despair. Yet he faced 
all with that grand, Stoic motto: " Accept the inevitable 
with joy." He caught the same inspiration from those 
red, sterile hills, as were voiced across the hills of 
Galilee by the lowly Nazarene. Charity opened the way 
to college. Sunlight entered. He was graduated with 
first honors. Following Aristotle, he chose as man's 
highest vocation, true, real politics. But ere the dawn 
of the grander day had lighted his face, the doctors said 
his maladies had become incurable. With a great lone- 
liness clutching his heart, he tore himself away from the 
girl who was to be his wife; tore himself away, realizing 
that the endearments of the hearthstone, the graces of 
womanhood, would never be for him. The shadows 
deepened. To the unremitting pains of a disease-racked 
body, sufferings of mind now came to add their torture. 
Almost mad, he was driven to that question, which all 
strong hearts must face in the agony of solitude, the Geth- 
semane of his life, — " Shall I live, or shall I die?" But 
he of those tottering limbs and that sallow unloveliness 
held within the puny frame an unconquerable soul. With 
a forlorn courage, he went out from the barren shelter of 
a loveless home, resolved that though his body were 
shrivelled and knotted and ugly, God helping, he would 



238 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

tenant it with a spirit knightly and noble. Like a cry 
that rises above the storm, he proclaimed: " My soul is 
bent upon success." 

In nine years' time the invalid lawyer took his seat 
within the halls of the American Congress, by the side of 
Webster, Calhoun, and Clay. And that same year Abra- 
ham Lincoln wrote to his law-partner: " Alexander 
Stephens, a little, pale-faced, consumptive man, has just 
concluded the best speech of an hour's length I ever 
heard. My old, dry, withered eyes are full of tears yet." 

Long before the cannon at Bull Run poured forth de- 
struction, the greatest war of American politics was 
waging. No sooner had the constructive statesmanship of 
the Revolutionary period scored its triumph, than the 
cause of State Sovereignty rose again to struggle against 
Centralism through succeeding administrations, until the 
problem of slavery brought the two forces into final con- 
flict. From the wilderness to the sea, champion met 
champion in combat of debate, — sectionalism against 
nationality; hatred of race against feeling of brotherhood. 
The roar of the mills and shops of New England became 
a cry for Centralization, for Protection, and for Abolition. 
From the South, her plantations teeming with harvest, 
her ships plying in commerce with the world, came the 
answering cry — a persistent demand for Free Trade, for 
the rights of the State and the individual. Daniel Webster 
attempted to save the Union by appealing to the North to 
put down her prejudice and check the Abolition move- 
ment. But Daniel Webster, gifted in mind and eloquence 
and renown, could not restrain the Northern spirit of 
freedom, could not accomplish the impossible. Henry 
Clay evolved compromise after compromise to no avail 
but postponement of the fateful hour. California was 
admitted as a free state and the North secured a majority 
in Congress. The South demanded the entrance of slavery 



ALEXANDER STEPHENS 239 

into the territories. From the floor of the national House, 
great, fiery, vehement Robert Toombs, leader of the South, 
thundered forth the warning: "Deny us this right, and 
I will bring my children and my constituents to the altar 
of Liberty, and, like Hamilcar, I will swear them to eternal 
hostility to your foul domination. Refuse this right, and 
I, for one, will strike for independence. " 

The right was refused. The slaveholders of the nation, 
every heart-throb quickening, convened in Georgia to con- 
sider disunion. Men reared under Southern skies to 
believe slavery righteous before God rallied to agitate the 
question of their honor. 

In the North, affairs were all discord. The administra- 
tion was divided against itself. Northern leaders watched 
anxiously this convention. Georgia was the Empire 
State: if she led, the solid South would follow. 

In that hour appeared Alexander Stephens, imbued 
from childhood with the fatal principle of slavery; as a 
constitutional lawyer, as a leading thinker of his time, he 
believed thoroughly in the rightfulness of secession. Yet 
he cherished humanity, he loved liberty, he clung to the 
Union. As he beheld that throng of the most rabid seces- 
sionists, he realized that, did that aroused spirit prevail, 
the Star of Hope, whose light shone brightest in the West, 
would set. Throwing aside personal interests, he adhered 
to his honest conviction, that, though right in principle, 
the present crisis did not justify the disruption of the land 
won by the blood of patriots. Though his great heart 
yearned in sympathy with his countrymen, by the same 
majestic will that snatched him from obscurity, that states- 
man of tottering body transcended the unreasoning wrath 
of the surging crowd, and, in the sublimest effort of his 
life, pleaded for the Union. As he sat down, the same 
fiery, vehement Robert Toombs arose and said: "Fel- 
low citizens, we have just listened to the brightest intel- 



240 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

lect and purest patriot who now lives. I move we ad- 
journ, with three cheers for Alexander Stephens." 

Thus was the war delayed for ten long years. Thus 
was given the North a chance to husband her resources to 
withstand the awful shock of fratricidal strife; for, had 
not that sweeping sentiment been checked then, recalling 
our own weakness, recalling that Lincoln's guiding hand 
was not yet recognized, we tremble to imagine the con- 
sequences. 

In the North, Stephen A. Douglas, believing in the right- 
fulness of secession, when the crisis came, bowed to the 
sovereign will of his people and took his place with the 
Union. History holds this his grandest act. In the 
South, Alexander Stephens struggled with fellow-citizens, 
whose ultimate decision he felt as inevitable. So we 
must recognize a like nobility of self-renunciation in the 
act by which he chose to remain with his people, the on- 
rushing tide of whose conviction human power could not 
stem; chose to remain with them, chose, if need be, to 
perish with them. And he was privileged to watch the 
mightiest conflict of the modern day, as Vice-President 
of the Southern Confederacy. 

When the war was over, and the Confederate soldier 
returned to find the once smiling South but a land of 
graves and memories, Alexander Stephens, denied a seat 
in the United States Senate, was confined in a Northern 
prison. There, shattered in health, crushed by defeat, 
he rose from the ashes of the dead past by no other might 
save his imperious will. Liberated, at length, he returned 
to Congress, he labored with patience and charity through 
sixteen years for a reconstructed nation. As a statesman, 
he believed in African slavery; he thought he was first a 
Georgian, then an American. As a man, the dispassionate 
decades tell us he had many faults; he was only human. 
But it was not for us to say his statesmanship was wrong : 



ALEXANDER STEPHENS 241 

it was not for us to say his statesmanship was right. The 
God of battles was the judge. 

Seventy years old, and Georgia elects him governor. 
His last day at Washington arrives. The great American 
Congress is assembled to do special homage to him who 
was second among its foes, to dignify the statesman who 
is great in spite of a lost cause, to honor the man who 
is powerful in spite of suffering. Among its members are 
James A. Garfield, Blackburn, the Kentucky firebrand, 
witty Sam Cox, Robeson, the Constitutional orator, and 
scores of others with the magnetism of rugged vitality 
and commanding appearance. But the one man, famed 
before all others as the most eloquent of Congress, cannot 
so much as walk, cannot stand. Paralyzed and broken 
by seventy years of continuous suffering, Alexander 
Stephens sits in his invalid chair before the Speaker's 
desk. But, though the keepers of the house may tremble 
and the strong men be bowed down, yet the silver cord is 
not loosed, or the golden bowl yet broken. From the 
flashing windows of the soul leaps forth the splendor of a 
will undaunted, of a brain immaculate. 

I see the frail, sickly boy weeping over the graves of 
his father and mother. I see the broken-hearted orphan 
repressed by poverty. I see the young man knowing not 
a moment free from bodily pain. I see the young lawyer 
with death in his soul brought almost to madness. And 
then I see him, captain of his soul, rise from scenes of 
abasement and blasphemy. I see him by one speech 
delay the war ten years. I see him second in honor in 
his native South. And now, threescore and ten, I see 
him exalted by the South and the North: unconquerable 
soul and will incarnate — Alexander Stephens. 



THE POWERS OF THE SPEAKER OF THE 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

Lloyd Franklin Hess 

LEHIGH UNIVERSITY 

(Awarded the Williams Senior Premium at the Commencement 
Exercises, 1909) 

Armed with a plenitude of power beside which the 
authority of the President of the United States seems mean 
and insignificant, the Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives is to-day the autocrat of Congress. He is the abso- 
lute arbiter of all proposed legislation, the judge from 
whose decision there is no appeal. 

Circumstances did not always warrant this criticism, 
for there was a time, not long ago, when, instead of being 
the czar-like ruler of humble subjects, he was rightly the 
creature and servant of his peers who elevated him to his 
exalted position. When the Fifty-third Congress was 
organized, it contained a narrow majority of Republicans, 
and in order to thwart all possible interference on the part 
of the minority, a new code of rules was adopted whereby 
the Speaker became virtually a parliamentary czar. The 
most important innovation was the intrusting of the legis- 
lative programme to the Committee on Rules, with power 
to decide what particular measures shall be considered, 
the time to be allotted to debate, and the hour at which 
the vote should be taken. It is true that the programme 
of this committee is subject to the approval of the House, 
but partisanship is always strong enough to uphold the 
committee. This committee is composed of five mem- 

242 



THE POWERS OF THE SPEAKER 243 

bers, three of the majority party including the Speaker, 
and two of the minority. While its duties were formerly 
of a supervisory character, now, by the new order of affairs, 
they are of the utmost importance, namely, to pilot party 
measures through the legislative sea. The consent of the 
members of this committee must first be secured before a 
fair hearing can be accorded to any bill, however meri- 
torious it may be. Although five is a small portion of 
three hundred and eighty-seven, such a delegation of 
power into the hands of so few men might be expedient; 
but, as a matter of fact, in the practical operation of this 
system all the power of this committee is absorbed by its 
chief member, the Speaker. The two minority members 
are merely figure-heads ; their votes are of no avail when 
arrayed against the majority, and frequently they are not 
even consulted. With these two members eliminated, 
the remaining three are easily reduced to one, for the 
Speaker in constituting this committee is careful that the 
two members forming with him a majority are in full sym- 
pathy with his legislative programme ; he may not make 
a bargain with them to that effect, but they know that to 
oppose any of his measures will be instant political death. 
As a result, the Speaker is the determining factor in the 
House. No debate, much less a vote, can be secured for 
any bill, however urgently demanded by a majority of 
the House or by the people at large unless it meets the 
approval of the Speaker. 

The Fifty-third Congress affords a splendid example 
of the despotic power of the Speaker with regard to what 
was then considered throughout the whole country as a 
measure of the greatest importance, the Nicaragua Canal 
Bill. A written appeal signed by over three hundred mem- 
bers was directed to the Speaker, while before the Com- 
mittee on Commerce over eighty thousand signatures 
were affixed to a petition praying for canal legislation of 



244 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

some sort. Although a majority of the congressmen were 
willing and anxious to discuss and act upon some scheme 
that would insure the building of a waterway connecting 
the Atlantic and the Pacific, bringing the undeveloped 
resources of the West within reach of the large manufac- 
turing cities of the East, and shortening the route from 
our eastern coast to China, Japan, and the Philippines by 
thousands of miles, their efforts were of no avail. One 
would think that Congress could not refuse legislation 
when so urgently demanded by the people. Congress 
as a representative body would not, but Congress as 
dominated by a single individual ignored the popular 
demands, because that individual was inexorable in his 
opposition to the proposed legislation. 

In the long session of the last Congress we have another 
striking illustration of the way in which important legis- 
lation is arbitrarily sidetracked. In a special message 
to Congress the President recommended the removal of 
the duty on wood pulp, thereby lessening the demand 
upon our own forests and at the same time cheapening the 
price of paper. A bill to that effect, favored by a majority 
of the members and supported by popular sentiment, 
could not pass the House because the Speaker was averse 
to a revision of any tariff schedules before the then pending 
general election ; and when asked by a member with ref- 
erence to this bill, whether there was no redress against 
this one-man power, replied that, being elected to the chair 
to shoulder responsibility for all legislation passed, he 
could not possibly suffer such an enactment. Where in 
the Constitution or in any rules of the House is it stipu- 
lated that the chair shall be responsible for all the doings 
of that body ? Should not, on the contrary, the respon- 
sibility be divided among the individual members who 
should render an account of their stewardship to their 
constituents ? 



THE POWERS OF THE SPEAKER 245 

Many may indeed wonder why a member does not ap- 
peal directly to the House in behalf of a measure of such 
national importance, especially when, as in the case of the 
Nicaragua Canal Bill, he would be supported by a ma- 
jority of his colleagues. The answer again demonstrates 
the power of the Speaker. No member can secure from 
the speaker the promise of recognition until he has ob- 
tained the Speaker's approval of the measure which he 
intends to introduce into the House; and without such 
recognition his efforts would be in vain. No matter how 
important in point of wealth, commercial enterprise, or 
population may be the district which the member repre- 
sents, chosen though he be in the same manner and for 
the same purpose as the gentleman who is temporarily 
elevated to the custody of the gavel, his power to serve 
his constituents is such only as granted from the chair. 
Many a congressman has been relegated to private life 
because he failed to obtain legislation of great impor- 
tance to his constituents. He would not have been 
rebuked in the form of a defeat at the next election had 
the longed-for measure been discussed and; then defeated; 
his constituents upbraided him and held him responsible 
because the question had never been laid before the 
House. Yet the fault was not his own. He was not 
negligent. He was the victim of a legislative system that 
made him the slave-like servant of the Speaker. It is no 
wonder that a man of such absolute power is wined and 
dined and feted and initiated into the enjoyments of the 
highest and most exclusive society of Washington. Any 
man inclined towards such amusements might be disposed 
to give undue aid to members in a position to offer such 
advantages. 

But we must not forget what is after all the most potent 
factor in the shaping of the destiny of proposed laws. 
The appointment of the House Committees, which first 



246 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

sift in a thorough manner all the measures as originally 
brought to the attention of that body is absolutely and 
solely in the hands of the Speaker. Is he against the 
guaranty of national banks ? He composes the Committee 
on Banking and Currency of men that he can depend 
upon to report adversely upon any bill designed towards 
that end. Is he opposed to a large navy? The Com- 
mittee on Naval Affairs can be counted upon to do his 
bidding. Is he inimical to a reduction of the tariff? 
The Committee on Ways and Means will defeat any such 
attempt. 

Certainly, it needs no further argument or citation of 
fact to prove that the Speaker is a veritable autocrat. 
He frames his committees to suit his ideas, he decides 
what measures shall be discussed, he recognizes or ignores 
any member. Is the clothing of him with such inexhaust- 
ible power wise and expedient, when the way by which 
a reform could be effected is not difficult? First of all, 
the rules should be so framed as to compel his obedience 
only to a majority of his own party, which would relieve 
him from much responsibility. Again, the absolute power 
of naming the committees should be taken from the 
Speaker, and the selection left to a committee named 
at the caucuses of the two leading parties of the House. 
At least the Speaker should be placed in a position where 
he would be compelled to recognize the demands of his 
fellow-members ; for great as he is, he is not greater than 
those who intrusted him to the speakership. 

We do not of course favor radical changes, contrived by 
doctrinaires, for our political organization is a growth 
and not a scheme; yet something should be done, and to 
some such solution of the problem as has been suggested 
no valid objection can be raised. 



THE POLICY OF RICHELIEU 
Charles F. Wishart 

MONMOUTH COLLEGE 

(Awarded first place in the Interstate Oratorical Contest, at 
Indianapolis, Indiana, 1894) 

Near the close of his memorable reign, Peter the Great 
stood one day by a lonely tomb in the city of Paris. He 
had viewed the institutions, studied the governments, and 
judged the statesmen of every court in Europe. An ex- 
ponent of power, he came to worship at the shrine of power. 
Modern Russia did obeisance to modern France as, stand- 
ing with uncovered head, the man of iron will and purpose 
bowed to a master spirit. " Great man !" said the mon- 
arch, "I would give one half my kingdom if I could learn 
from thee to rule the other half." And from the stand- 
point of absolutism, the world confirms the judgment. 
For all history reveals no character so depraved, and yet 
so majestic as that of the model of absolutists, the master 
spirit of two centuries of French polity, the man " fitted 
to rule chaos" — Cardinal Richelieu. 

Entering the vicious politics of the court of Louis XIII, 
he found a nation incapable of self-rule. Facing the al- 
ternatives of absolutism or national disintegration, he 
chose the former. Obsequious to strength, tyrannical to 
weakness, a Jesuit in intrigue, a Robespierre in cruelty, 
a Napoleon in indomitable will and purpose, over broken 
oaths and treacherous alliances, he climbed his way to 
fame and power. , He held them in the face of a capri- 

247 



248 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

cious king and a hostile court by his sleepless cunning 
and the relentless punishment of his presumptuous rivals. 
Between the kings and absolute power stood three bar- 
riers, — the nobles, the parliaments, and the Huguenots. 
All were met and crushed by Richelieu. Before his iron 
sceptre disorder fled affrighted. Beneath his magic 
touch the Golden Lilies blossomed forth on every plain 
and hill top. The Chaos Ruler found France a collection 
of petty principalities; he left it a strongly centralized 
and powerful nation. 

Nearly two centuries passed away. Richelieu's policy, 
carried to its legitimate conclusion by his apt pupil Maz- 
arin, had struck the key-note of French absolutism. Over 
the long, terrible nightmare of Bourbon misrule the Car- 
dinal's mighty spirit hovered like a phantom. He had 
checked disintegration, but he had also checked the 
natural expansion of individual rights; he had chained 
Liberty and set the Bourbon dynasty to watch her dun- 
geon cell; he had crossed purposes with the great economy 
of God. Behold then a strange anomaly ! A government 
growing more despotic in the face of free thought, — a 
despotism " tempered by epigrams" ! Absolutism with 
enslaved thought and a shackled press made Russia. 
Free government with free thought made America. But 
absolutism with free thought, free speech, and a free press 
made the French Revolution. What a strange, sad spec- 
tacle ! Voltaire and Rousseau dreaming of fraternal 
Utopias, a nation's bosom heaving with the new-born 
sacred thought of liberty, — yet all the while the clanking 
chain grown heavier and the cruel lash of tyranny plied 
more fiercely over the backs of bleeding millions. While 
French philosophy discussed ideal government, and French 
statesmen erected visionary schemes of finance, gaunt 
famine stared the nation in the face, and the Bourbons 
wrung the last penny from the peasant's store to deck 



THE POLICY OF RICHELIEU 249 

with golden lilies the glittering bowers and palaces of gay- 
Versailles, — aye, to circle a lewd harlot's brow with 
gleaming gems and golden coronets. With every new 
regime the power of king and court increased. "The 
state," cries haughty Louis; "I am the state." Ah, proud 
Richelieu, with thy dreams of absolute power, of universal 
empire, and a world subservient to a Cardinal's beck and 
call, didst thou e'er dream of this ? Didst thou wear out 
that mighty life of thine in plots and schemes and projects 
universal, that this base Bourbon should through thy 
plans proclaim himself "the state" ? Ill fared it for thy 
Bourbon brood when Liberty took up the challenge, and 
with fire and carnage taught all tyrants that the people 
are "the state." 

While the great Cardinal lived, he mastered his system 
and repressed its evils. But his death, like that of Mira- 
beau, unchained the mischief of which he had been at once 
the author and the restraining power. The victor march 
of the seventeenth century became the funeral dirge of 
the eighteenth. Richelieu invoked the spectre of aggres- 
sive absolutism, and it would not down; no hand was 
strong enough to conjure with the dead man's wand. 
Could such a system — false in principle and fatal in 
results — have been a necessity in the evolution of modern 
Europe ? Did the logic of the times demand absolutism 
for France? Did the Ruler of Nations miscalculate 
when he threw this factor into his century problem of 
national development ? 

For answer stand in the light of seventeenth-century 
conditions. See a nation without central power, a weak- 
ling king on a tottering throne, a treasury depleted, and a 
degraded peasantry exorbitantly taxed to meet the revolts 
of petty princes. Such diseased conditions must foster dis- 
eased policies. Governments change as men change. Only 
when God reigns in the hearts of the people can the people 



250 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

reign. Democracy is conditioned on self-control, born of 
humanity's upward struggle, cradled in education, warmed 
by the radiant sunbeams that emanate from Calvary's 
holy cross. But a strong central power is a necessity 
for nations steeped in ignorance and vice. The knee 
unbent before the higher law of self-control must bend 
before the lower law of force. For everywhere and always 
the first requisite of all society is law. Without it gov- 
ernments fall and society disintegrates. "Its seat is the 
bosom of Almighty God," its power bent the azure dome 
of Heaven and fretted it with star fire, its voice speaks 
in the thundered harmonies of ten thousand whirling 
spheres. The atheist is the only consistent anarchist; 
for wherever God is, there is law. And him who strikes 
in its defence, judge not too harshly though the world 
proclaim him a tyrant. 

Such an one was Richelieu. Cruel, unscrupulous, 
false, he was still the champion of order. Like Socrates 
of old, he heard above a nation's tumult the murmured 
warnings of embodied law. Through the mists of dis- 
order and revolt he caught dim visions of her fair face and 
felt the majestic touch of her queenly hand. If he was a 
tyrant, he believed tyranny better than anarchy. If 
he preserved the dross of absolutism, he preserved with 
it the gold of social order and permanency. Rejecting 
the glittering casket of individual license that held de- 
struction to the state, he chose the laden casket of tyranny 
that concealed the sacred treasure — law. 

But still wider was this policy and wider the necessity 
that called it into being. European conditions were 
chaotic, — the German states hopelessly divided, tri- 
umphant Austria ready to hurl Wallenstein across Europe 
like a thunderbolt, crush Germany, and change the destiny 
of a continent. Then it was that the adroit diplomacy 
of the wily Cardinal outwitted Ferdinand and united with 



THE POLICY OF RICHELIEU 251 

the valor of Gustavus Adolphus to win a mighty triumph 
over the hosts of Wallenstein. To save Germany, check 
Austria, preserve the balance of power, and adjust society 
along modern lines after the decay of feudalism, was the 
European problem of the seventeenth century; and the 
policy of Richelieu was an essential factor in its solution. 

To condemn the evils of this policy has been a favorite 
work of superficial philosophy. But the patriot's task 
should be to learn those evils only that he may avoid 
them, to read for the nineteenth century the lessons of 
the seventeenth. And no example of state-craft is more 
replete with warning for our present social tendencies 
than this. It is preeminently important because pre- 
eminently typical — fraught with the same dangers that 
threaten our own civilization. Power in the hands of 
corrupt men and national disregard of principle were the 
giant evils that the Cardinal fostered and developed. 
He placed an absolute sceptre in the hands of a dynasty 
of false kings, unfitted to rule, unkingly in character and 
act. He courted men and hated principles. Expediency 
was the sole standard of action, and personality the sole 
basis of patriotism. But the polity that lives must be 
built on principles mightier than any man. The heart, 
unmoved by a mere policy, throbs and quickens under the 
touch of a principle. Men worship a nation's emblem 
because it stands for an idea. Right or wrong, let it be a 
tangible, glowing ideal, and they make of it a victorious 
battle-cry, emblazon it on their banners, love it, live for 
it, die for it. Aye, if it be a right principle touched and 
quickened by the holy fire of God's eternal truth, it is 
invincible, and the nation that disregards it is doomed to 
destruction. 

Let not America forget the lesson. The same disregard 
of principle is threatening our public life. Striving in 
the mad struggle for wealth, deaf to the sacred demands of 



252 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

citizenship, forgetful of the great principles which under 
God have made this nation, we demand class legislation 
and make sectional interests the measure of national 
policy. We surrender municipal government to misrule 
because clean-handed citizenship is too selfish to trouble 
itself with politics. Our millionnaires tread gold-paved 
pathways to the capitol while frenzied fanaticism deploys 
"common weal" armies to meet them there. Here, 
thank God, is no hereditary curse! But have we not 
bowed the knee before false kings ? Are we not crowning 
selfishness, avarice, mammon ? Has not the voice of 
demagogues and mobs proclaimed, "Long live these 
kings"? Shall disregard of principle curse America as it 
cursed France in times gone by ? Shall Anglo-Saxon 
blood and Anglo-Saxon lineage furnish forth a Danton, a 
Marat, a Robespierre ? 

On the eve of the fatal day that saw the fall of the Bas- 
tile, ill-fated Louis exclaimed, "What! this is a revolt !" 
"Sire," said Liancourt, "it is not a revolt; it is a revolu- 
tion ! " and the death sentence of the false kings of Richelieu 
had been pronounced. To-day in the first dawning twi- 
light of the twentieth century King Avarice, backed by 
the mighty hosts of his twin ally, Ignorance, strong in 
the hope of vicious class legislation, hears above sectional 
clamor an ominous note of warning from the great intelli- 
gent, God-fearing middle class — the bone and sinew of 
our Christian civilization. "Can this mean revolt?" 
comes the anxious question. Ah, let every heart that 
throbs responsive to the great heart-beat of the Republic 
give back the mighty answer, "It is not a revolt, O king; 
but, by the sacred banner of the Crucified One, it is a 
revolution." Heed the cry, false king! Never has it 
sounded for humanity in vain. Heed it! For it shall 
ring destruction's knell around thy craven soul. It is 
the voice of principle that thundered of old from the lips 



THE POLICY OF RICHELIEU 253 

of seer and prophet; that thrilled the breasts of Arnaud 
and Coligny and stern old John Knox; the voice that 
Richelieu hated and France despised, but which sang the 
birth song and shall yet sing the triumph song of our Re- 
public. That voice was heard in the sentence that placed 
a corrupt political leader behind New York prison bars; it 
rings out in the demand for cleaner municipal politics; 
above all it calls to-day for clean-handed citizenship at 
the primary and the ballot-box. Obey the summons, O 
patriot brother, and there will be "a revolution" — not a 
Reign of Terror, but a bloodless revolution that shall win 
back the sceptre for thorn-crowned Truth, dethrone King 
Avarice and crown King Immanuel, conquer selfishness 
with love, the rule of gold with the Golden Rule, Gibral- 
tar's power with the Rock of Ages. And in that dawning 
day of a redeemed Republic, the glow of blood-red Mars 
shall fade away; but clearer, brighter, grander still shall 
gleam forth Bethlehem's holy star, — the star of universal 
empire. 



DEMOCRACY AND THE TRUST 

Kemp Davis Battle 
university of north carolina 

(Awarded the Mangum Medal for Oratory at the Commencement Exer- 
cises of the University of North Carolina, 1909) 

For the last generation, the energies of the South have 
been consumed, her life has been spent, in the mighty 
struggle of recovering from the war and the period of 
reconstruction. Now at a very critical point of business 
history, she is called to enter the arena as a world factor. 
She must prepare to resume that position of proud leader- 
ship which she formerly occupied. But the prominence 
is to be one of a different kind. Then it was political, 
now it is to be industrial. The South of the future has 
for its mission the satisfaction of the material wants of a 
large part of mankind. Then the problem was to govern 
men and lead them in the paths of wise statesmanship; 
now it is to clothe and feed them and lift them out of that 
ignorance which is the inseparable accompaniment of 
poverty. The man who will teach the South to spin its 
own cotton crop and thus double its value is an honorable 
comrade for Thomas Jefferson or John C. Calhoun. On 
us the task is imposed of leading the South into a position 
of industrial supremacy. And in order to do this we must 
understand and appreciate that without which industrial 
supremacy is impossible — the corporation. Because the 
corporation is the basic fact of modern life, a fact that we 
must all accept. Not as it now exists, — for its present 

254 



DEMOCRACY AND THE TRUST 255 

state is transitional, — but the corporation of the future, 
changing always its particular form but maintaining 
throughout its identity and its individuality, this corpo- 
ration is to be the corner-stone of industry. History 
indicates it; philosophy demands it. 

Progress in civilization is a product of two factors, 
individual activity and the machine in which this activity 
is exerted. A group of individuals join in an organization 
and develop within it until a more perfect one is needed. 
A new one is formed, another period of development fol- 
lows, and so the world goes on. Therefore philosophers 
say that progress is either a growth from the individual 
to the universal, or from the universal to the individual, 
meaning by " individual" the individual man and by 
" universal" the institution or the organization. And 
in the course of history, the emphasis has been placed 
first on one and then on the other. For many centuries, 
civilization concerned itself with the formation of strong, 
central governments. But in modern times stress has 
been laid more and more on the individual as the essential 
factor in government, and this we call democracy. In 
the world of business, success has been largely a growth 
in organization. First came the individual trader or 
producer, then came the partnership, then the firm, then 
the corporation, and finally the trust — the steps are 
both natural and inevitable. As conditions changed, 
the prevailing business type changed. As economic life 
demanded greater and more perfect organization, the 
demand was met and, as the summit, the apex, the cul- 
mination of this organizing process, we have the modern 
trust — the result of the legitimate principle of organiza- 
tion at work in the world of business, the last link in a 
long chain of natural and necessary development. And 
the end is not yet, the hand of Time is inexorable; it may 
pause, but it never remains stationary. 



256 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

The trust problem is therefore not a local issue, but the 
product of a world movement. It is important, then, that 
our consideration should be sane; that we should view 
the matter as a world problem and decide it in a large, 
broad, far-sighted way. To do this we must dispossess 
our minds of the mistaken idea that the corporation is a 
creature of the devil and face the fact that it is a legiti- 
mate business product. The trust, I say, is a legitimate 
business product, not only because its origin is a natural 
one, but because its mission is a worthy one. It is true 
that the history of corporations in this country has been 
marked by unparalleled greed, graft, and corruption; 
it is true that some of the greatest atrocities of modern 
life are perpetrated by trust operators; it is true that the 
present avalanche of public opposition is the accumulated 
result of a long and consistent disregard of all the prin- 
ciples of honesty. The attitude of the trust buster is 
not caused by groundless hatred of corporate life, but it 
represents the righteous indignation of an outraged public 
conscience. But these things are the necessary jarrings of 
a new machine, a machine by no means perfect; these are 
the abuses of power that we must curb; these are faults 
in our management of corporations, and not inherent 
defects. And the reason is a simple one. If all the rail- 
roads in the South were under one system, which would 
be the ideal trust condition, and if the management of 
this system were open to the public eye so that the capital 
represented truly and honestly the money invested, 
unreasonable prices or rates would be a physical, nay even 
a mechanical, impossibility. For if the earnings were too 
great the swollen dividends would reflect the fact. Capi- 
tal would be attracted into the field and the monopoly 
would be destroyed. In other words, there is a great 
reserve force called potential competition which regulates 
prices and acts as a perpetual safeguard against extortion. 



DEMOCRACY AND THE TRUST 257 

Control your trust and let it exercise only its proper func- 
tions, and if it begins to rob the people, capital will come 
in, produce competition, and break up the monopoly. 
Add to this the element of wise government regulation 
and extortion becomes impossible. 

Now this trust, this legitimate business product, is a 
permanent institution. The natural outcome of business 
conditions, it will disappear only when those conditions 
disappear. As those conditions change, the form of the 
organization will change. But the trust idea, not in its 
present shape, but in its inner significance, — the trust idea 
is here to stay because it supplies a permanent demand in 
civilization. The big corporation plan is the one which 
will produce the maximum amount of wealth with the 
minimum amount of capital, labor, and time. This is the 
essential fact, this is the ground cause of the existence of 
this industrial type. This is the reason why the whole 
progress of the century has been toward combination and 
single-headed management. This is the reason why 
Edward H. Harriman controls enough railroad tracks to 
girdle the globe one and a half times. This is the reason 
why we are compelled to realize that the evolution of 
business points directly and inevitably toward the princi- 
ple of combination. To recognize it means industrial life; 
to fight against it means industrial death. Combination 
and progress go hand in hand. It is the ultimate end of 
modern organization because of this peculiar power of 
decreasing the cost of production. This is the quality 
which recommends it to the American people ; this is the 
quality by which it stands the test of the public con- 
science. By thus cheapening the cost of production, 
combination has become the keystone of America's in- 
dustrial growth. It is the shibboleth of the commercial 
advance, the "Open Sesame" of the twentieth century. 
The word is written across every page of the biography 



258 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

of material civilization. It was the terror of the past, but 
it is the genius of the present and the power of the future. 
Facing now the fact that the trust fills a legitimate 
place in our civilization, and facing the further fact that 
it is a permanent institution, we ought to be very careful 
that our attitude towards it be a proper one. The big 
corporation being the keystone of industrial success, it 
is a business proposition that we should pursue towards it 
a policy of helpful control. I do not say that all corpora- 
tions are honest and praiseworthy. I do not say that 
every particular combination promotes the general welfare. 
I do not deny the existence of pernicious monopolies. 
But I do say that the general Southern attitude toward 
corporate life is little short of suicide. The hostility of 
the carping politician appealing to the lowest instincts of 
his constituents, the demagoguery of the blatant news- 
paper raising only clouds of prejudice, the short-sighted 
selfishness of the private citizen who makes a vicious stab 
at wealth wherever he finds it, — these things, I say, by 
confining the big business organizations to the North, 
East, and West, are crippling our industries and retarding 
our development. With the new South quivering with the 
new life about to course through her veins of steel, with 
the dawn of a new era of prosperity and growth ahead of 
her, with the Panama Canal ready to throw upon her 
shores that Oriental trade which in the tide of history has 
successively enriched every city or nation that it has 
touched, with a position of leadership, of national, yea 
of international, preeminence almost within her grasp, is 
it not strange that our people should be so averse to ac- 
cepting their marvellous opportunities ? Is it not strange 
that they should be led astray by those whose only desire 
is political preferment ? Is it not passing strange that 
they should turn their backs on that which they most need ? 
"Why will ye reject so great salvation ?" Peace will not 



DEMOCRACY AND THE TRUST 259 

come to us through fighting the inevitable, we must recog- 
nize it, yes welcome it, and gladly adapt ourselves to it. 

What form, then, shall our control take ? Into what 
restraining channel shall we direct our corporate activi- 
ties ? Where will this course of business aggrandizement 
end ? The fault with the present system is not that the 
trust operator has too much power, but that this power is 
uncoupled with responsibility. The trouble is that the in- 
dividual has been lost in the organization. The solution, 
then, should come from the application of the principle of 
democracy. Look about you and see the solution of other 
problems of sociology which have vexed mankind. Read 
in the solution of the problems of education, of govern- 
ment, yea verily of religion — read here, I say, the solution 
of the problem of corporate activity. Contrast for a 
moment, if you please, the state of society now and that 
of five hundred years ago, and face the future. Then 
education was confined to the ranks of a small band of 
monks and scholars; now every state in the American 
Union provides for the education of its citizens. Then 
government was exclusively in the hands of the despot 
or the king or the baron; now the essential fact in govern- 
ment is the individual man. Then religion was the prop- 
erty of the priest; now you and I have as much right 
to our religious opinion as the preacher in our pulpit. 
He probably knows more about it than we do, but he can- 
not dictate. 

The problems of government, of education, of religion, 
have been solved by the application of the principles 
of democracy. Even so let it be with the trust. The 
pendulum of industry has gone the limit of institu- 
tionalism; let it sweep back to individualism. To prac- 
tical men of wealth Andrew Carnegie points the way. 
His policy has been to make his laborers stockholders in 
the corporation for which they labor. The stockholders 



260 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

in the United Steel Trust number an eighth of a million 
souls. The details we leave to time. But this much is 
clear. The trust of the future is to be more and more 
the trust of the people. Wider and wider is the owner- 
ship to spread, until the time comes when every railroad 
man in the country, be he magnate or laborer, is a rail- 
road stockholder. Narrow and more narrow is to be 
the sphere of the despot in corporate management. More 
and more like political government is industrial govern- 
ment to become, until the vast body of stockholders is a 
true body politic and the trust managers are as truly 
servants of the people as are their political governors or 
senators. Greater and greater is to be the power of the 
individual as the integral unit, until he dominates the 
world of business as completely as he dominates the world 
of government. But this is not to mean industrial con- 
fusion and inefficiency any more than individual political 
liberty means anarchy or license. The advantage of 
universal production is to be coupled with the advantage 
of individual ownership. Yes, the future has no terrors 
that an aroused Southern democracy cannot solve. Then 
may we see the South proudly leading the van in the com- 
ing march toward industrial greatness. Then may we 
see her doing her appointed share of the work of the world, 
her cotton mills clothing and her farm lands feeding 
humanity. Then may we see her corporations perfect 
industrial machines; the directors, captains of industry; 
the stockholders, intelligent citizens. Then we may see 
in those corporations industrial democracy at work: the 
universal and the individual, the forces of expansion and 
the forces of integration, the idealized realization of the 
perfect industrial machine — a trust, sheltered by an 
enlightened public conscience, founded on an eternal 
principle, a child of democracy. 



SAVONAROLA — PRIEST AND PATRIOT 
Edward Francis O'Flynn 

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME 
(Awarded first place in the Contest for the Breen Oratorical Medal, 1905) 

Enthroned in the heart of Italy's garden land lies the 
beautiful city of Florence. Behind her, raising their 
massive shoulders into Italian clouds, stand the lordly 
Apennines; before her, stretching away into the distant 
purple, spreads Italy's loveliest valley; within her, stately 
edifices and magnificent form a great forest of stone and 
marble; and down from the vine-clad hills and through 
it all and out into the peaceful valley flows the crystal 
Arno. 

To tell the story of Florence is to tell of her beauty, 
her glory, her art, and her men. But it is of her men we 
would speak, great, gallant men, who living consecrated 
their lives to the uplifting of humanity, and dying left 
their impress on history that all might read. Of such was 
Girolamo Savonarola. 

Born in the middle of the fifteenth century, he came 
into a world submerged in the pagan renaissance. For 
centuries over Europe a spirit of carelessness and epicurean 
indifference had swept. Roman misrule and oppression 
had given it birth; then came the destruction of the old 
world, bringing with it the ravage of Hun and Avar. For 
a thousand years man was sunk in gloom and sadness. 
Vainly he tried to blind himself to existing conditions; 
vainly he cried out in stoical resignation, "Let us forget!" 

261 



262 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

But it was ever the same — oppression, corruption, im- 
potency. At last the great dawn rolled back the darkness 
and he awoke. America was discovered; manufacturing 
and industry sprang up; commerce and trade received 
new impetus; science stole from its laboratory with new 
experiments; and literature and art, imbibing the spirit, 
burst forth to tell the grand story. Surely it was Europe's 
Augustan Age, and, looking on, man marvelled at the 
change. New ideas flooded the world; the great vista 
of self-advancement and opportunity spread out before 
him; its golden treasures, its joys, its happiness, all urged 
him on. Life took on a new aspect, and from the stoical 
he rushed to the opposite extreme. He threw down the 
battle-axe and quitted the dismal fortress. Ease, comfort, 
and luxury in new palaces supplanted the soldier life in 
sombre castles, and there in grandeur he gave himself up to 
Plato, indolence, and pleasure. Amidst all this neo-pagan- 
ism, this prosperity and Orientalism, it was but his nature 
that he turned from God. In Italy was this especially 
true. Like a Caesar or a Pericles ruled Lorenzo at Florence, 
and like them too, did he, whom men called the Mag- 
nificent, pervert his people and buy their liberty through 
pompous shows. Frivolity and dissipation ruled. Cor- 
ruption in high places had an evil effect on society, and 
the profligacy extended to the lower classes. Immorality 
and sensuousness marked the carnival. At length pro- 
longed dissipation and ribaldry worked its effect. Well 
had Lorenzo learned from Tacitus that to enslave the peo- 
ple was first to corrupt them. But all the time the show 
went on, though Florence groaned and rotted beneath it. 
Into this Athens, worn from fasts and tears and vigils, 
came the monk, Savonarola — a John at the court of 
Herod. Even as a child, the sight of sin and vice had 
sickened him. On entering manhood he turned his back 
to the world and sought contentment in the cloister. 



SAVONAROLA — PRIEST AND PATRIOT 263 

Fasts and mortifications filled his days. But not in his 
new life was he to find peace. Cruelty, treachery, and 
assassination, the offspring of sin, spread over Italy, 
whilst within that Church where he sought refuge he was 
shocked to behold the relaxation in morals and the scan- 
dals in ecclesiastical life. Great indeed was the sorrow 
of this devoted son as in vividness he perceived the evils 
that were to come in consequence of many sins. And oh! 
the terror of it all, as he beheld the evil spirit like a 
vampire that had spread its great wings over the pros- 
trate form of the Church and slowly sucked its life's 
blood from it. How his indignation arose, how his proud 
Italian blood rebelled, and in anguish he cried out: "O 
God, Lady, give me that I may break those spreading 
wings, that I may slay this monster, that I may lift up 
and restore your beloved Church," — thus his life's pur- 
pose. Day by day he besought God in his cell to give 
him strength to carry out his ideals, until at length his 
prayer was heard. 

The great Duomo was thronged with penitents, and 
Florence turned from her crime and revelry to listen to 
him who preached of Christ. Hundreds came at mid- 
night and waited patiently for the opening of the doors. 
Men of all classes flocked to hear him. There was some- 
thing magnetic in the frail, delicate body as it arose in 
the pulpit and thundered out against sin. What man 
could resist him whose eyes burned with the zeal that 
fired his soul, whose earnestness convulsed his whole 
frame, whose threats were dreadful, whose appeals were 
awful. His influence on the people was powerful, and 
Florence arose from her shame. Instead of the old pagan 
songs hymns to the Creator arose, men and women 
abandoned lives of sin, the churches were filled, and the 
city took on a new appearance. So much did Savonarola 
do for morality in Florence. Never flinching, never 



264 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

abandoning his purpose, he worked harder each day. 
His was a grand ideal. At night when he retired to his 
cell he prayed God to help him carry it out. At morning 
when he arose in the pulpit he exhorted his people to lead 
new and better lives. By degrees his popularity grew; 
and as the mist cleared away, in fancy he saw Jesus of 
Nazareth enthroned over a city cleansed and purified, 
Then the vision became a reality, and the people took up 
the cry that told of life and love and liberty. Up from 
the valley it came and striking the hills echoed back again; 
into the heart of Florence it penetrated and stirred men. 
who cried out in joyful exultation, " Live Christ our King! " 

And now was the hour of triumph, and to crown it all 
political circumstances aided him. Lorenzo died, leaving 
the reins of government in the hands of Piero. This 
prince further outraged the republican form of govern- 
ment and alienated his subjects. Florence was terrified 
to hear of the approach of the French king whose expedi- 
tion, runs Gibbon, " changed the face of Europe." Piero 
fled, leaving the city in a state of anarchy. Through the 
streets men roamed, casting jealous eyes on palaces built 
from extorted taxes. A spirit of lawlessness pervaded 
everywhere, and Florence was on the threshold of a bloody 
riot, when suddenly the great bell in the Duomo pealed 
out, calling all to prayer, and rising, Savonarola, the man 
of the hour, quelled his people's fears and sent them away 
peaceful citizens. 

Thus did he enter political life. Historians have criti- 
cised him for it; but when we consider the circumstances, 
we must admit there was no alternative — only one man 
could have saved Florence, and he was Savonarola. So 
now we see him in a new role, that of the statesman. Nor 
was he a mere moralist and theorizer: "Do you citizens," 
he said, "wish to be free? Then above all love God, 
love your neighbor, love each other, love the common 



SAVONAROLA — PRIEST AND PATRIOT 265 

good." And what a grand code that was which resulted 
in the reduction of taxes, the improvement of justice, the 
returns of money unrighteously acquired, and the aboli- 
tion of usury. Into the hearts of the Florentines he in- 
stilled a love for true liberty, a love for a just, well-ordered 
government, the basic principle of which was the temporal 
and spiritual welfare of all. He was no faction politician, 
no street demagogue, no moral agitator, but a cool, clear- 
minded statesman, who by his breath called a people 
back to life and set up a government that has been the 
admiration of sages. His ideal was grand, and for two 
years at least Christ ruled in Florence. 

But it is characteristic of history that men must work 
and sweat and bleed, and then fall victims to the cause 
they uphold. And so with the saviour of Florence. Men 
were ever fickle, and the Florentines were no more con- 
stant than that rabble that, fifteen centuries before, had 
slaughtered the Lamb on Calvary. It is not a mark, but 
an effect, of greatness that great men have enemies. Un- 
consciously they make them, and so with Savonarola. In 
Rome the adherents of the Medici succeeded in stirring up 
a quarrel between him and the Pope. This resulted in 
excommunication. Though he denied the validity of 
Alexander VI, still he never failed to recognize the author- 
ity of the Church, and so when excommunicated abstained 
from preaching and retired to St. Mark's. Nor was his 
fall due to papal anger so much as to the fickleness of the 
Florentines. When he no longer moved among them, 
reassuring and counselling them, when conspirators arose 
and determined to have his blood, when silence meant 
suspicion and suspicion meant guilt, then did the crowds 
turn against him and there arose the accusation heard 
once before — "This man blasphemes." "A miracle, an 
ordeal," cried they; and when none were forthcoming, 
their anger rose to hatred, and fire and malice filled their 



266 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

hearts. In that moment of passion the prayers and work 
of a lifetime were shattered. Enemies rose up on all sides, 
and only death could appease. 

For days his frail body was torn on the rack, for weeks 
he was tortured. In vain did his tormentors curse and 
burn in an attempt to wring from him a confession of guilt. 
And when all had failed, and the frantic mob grew restless 
and cried out for its victim, then was he condemned to be 
hanged and burned. As he ascended the ladder he paused 
and looked down on the multitude, and what a look it was: 
so full of pity, yet strength; of reproach, yet resignation — 
the last fond look of a dying man on those whom he 
loved. Down there in that surging sea of jeering faces 
were those whom all the night he had watched like a 
tender mother in sickness, to whom he had whispered 
God's eternal pardon in the confessional, for whom he had 
prayed and pleaded and wept; and now all was forgotten 
in the madness of the moment. So his body was burned 
and his ashes thrown into the Arno, and Savonarola, 
priest and patriot, was dead — convicted of heresy. 
Convicted, and why ? Was it for heresy ? No; but for 
political purposes alone. Intriguers saw that the only 
hope to restore the Medici was to secure the fall of the 
friar. Accordingly, with a ban of excommunication as a 
starting point, they evolved a scheme that stands un- 
equalled in history. In its diabolical and unprecedented 
rottenness not even the corrupt mock court that tried 
the sainted Joan of Arc can stand as a parallel. Forcibly 
torn from St. Mark's by a lawless mob, scorched on the 
rack and pulley till his mind wandered and his body 
writhed in excruciating pain, to the last he maintained 
his innocence. And when fire and torture failed, the foul 
Ceccone was brought in to record the prisoner's answers 
and so distort them as to incriminate him. Not even 
truth was given the accused man. 



SAVONAROLA — PRIEST AND PATRIOT 267 

Looking back we stand in horror at the dreadfulness 
of it all, and wonder where there is justice; for that court 
was a mock court, whose every proceeding was a breach 
of law, an insult to truth. Where is there justice when 
blackened cowards and unscrupulous men render judg- 
ment by fraud, and sanction it by religion? We are 
amazed at the thought, and wonder how a people con- 
sented; but those were times when allegiance belonged 
to him in power, and the Florentines were only as the rest 
of men. There is and can be only one reason for his 
death, and that is, because he was an obstacle in the path 
of the ambitious Medici. It was not for heresy that he 
died; not once did the Church pronounce him an heretic. 
Tell me, you who read history, you who love truth, was 
it heresy in childhood to kneel at God's altar and leave it 
damped with tears ? was it heresy to give up a career so 
full of promise and joy and glory to lead a mortified life 
in a cloister ? was it heresy to gather up the instruments 
of sin and Satan, and piling them into a great pyramid, 
fire them that the smoke ascending might proclaim the 
perishableness of things, the vanity and nothingness of 
sinful pleasures ? was it heresy to establish a kingdom of 
God on earth, and destroy the false reign of the usurper ? 
Was all this heresy ? I ask you, you who know the facts 
and love the truth ; and yet they were his only sins. Oh, 
he was no heretic, but a martyr, who died because he be- 
lieved in a mighty principle, because he struggled for 
freedom and purity and justice against innumerable odds, 
because the world loved vice and sin and he despised them, 
because his ideal was too heavenly, his life and love too 
Christlike. 

Though he died like his God in shame and ignominy, 
yet not in vain had he lived. For blood and tears and 
stainless lives must bear their fruit, and there's a place 
for high ideals and noble aims. No life is lost, no purpose 



268 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

gone, that shadows Calvary's cross on struggling men. 
It is enough to have lived and given the world an ideal; 
it is enough to have held the torch and lighted the way; 
it is more than enough while living to show men how to 
live and dying teach them how to die — so his claim to 
glory, to your admiration. For I would have you draw 
the curtain back and let the resplendent light of martyr- 
dom break through the darkness of medievalism, and 
there, above calumny and prejudice and controversy, be- 
hold, wrapt in glory, the grandest, the purest, and the 
noblest of fifteenth-century heroes. 

Four hundred years have passed since he moved among 
men. Famine and feud have ravaged Italy, strifes and 
bloody wars have shorn her of old-time glory; but along 
the Arno where he trod in sorrow and sadness there is 
peace. The solemn Apennines watch over the sleeping 
city, and the stars, like burning sapphires, keep eternal 
vigil; but down in the depths of marble and stone, down 
near the spot where he met his death, a grateful people 
have erected a noble statue. The frail form tells of fasts 
and mortification, while suffering and care have left their 
marks on furrowed cheeks and forehead. The com- 
pressed lips evidence a mighty firmness and an indomita- 
ble will; but in the dark gray eyes, gleaming from under 
heavy brows, there is written the tragedy of a life, spent 
like Another's, in " doing good," and sacrificed like His 
because he had loved too much. 



THE PASSING OF WAR 
Alvin Ketcham 

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 

(An oration delivered in the Ohio State Contest, and in the Contest of 
the Central Oratorical League, 1909) 

There is a great difference between the people of to-day 
and the people of one hundred years ago. The mode of 
life has changed. The stage-coach is placed on exhibition 
in the museum; and the " Twentieth Century Limited" 
runs from New York City to Chicago in eighteen hours. 
Modern science has utilized natural forces to break down 
the then almost insurmountable barriers of time and space, 
and by its magic touch the ends of the earth are brought 
into communication. The view of life has changed, and 
the feeling of one people toward another has changed. 
The frequency of personal contact resulting from modern 
freedom of intercourse has tended to eliminate the idea 
that a foreigner is a natural enemy. Convenient means 
of communication, travel, and commerce are rapidly 
making the world a unit. Multitudes of philanthropic 
and industrial combinations have ceased to recognize 
natural boundaries. It is this unity which seeks to es- 
tablish means other than war by which to settle inter- 
national difficulties. 

Humanity is one. The original unit of society was the 
family. Primitive conditions widely separated the mem- 
bers of that family, and their descendants regarded each 
other as foreigners and enemies. Modern conditions have 

269 



270 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

made the world a unit; and that unit is the human family. 
War is so grossly inconsistent with the brotherhood of 
man and the fatherhood of God that the moral sense of 
the human family demands its abolition. Evil may pros- 
per for a time, and the foolish may say it has triumphed, 
but right ultimately gains the victory. In its onward 
progress material considerations and commercial ad- 
vantages are often made to hasten its advance. 

All great reforms must have a fundamental cause and 
an exciting cause. The Reformation had for its funda- 
mental cause the awakening knowledge of the world, and 
for its exciting cause the debauchery of the priesthood 
and papacy. So the abolition of war and the ultimate 
federation of the world has for its fundamental cause this 
fact of world unity, and for its exciting cause, the com- 
mercialistic spirit of the age. This is an age of dollars. 
The leaders of the world occupy themselves with com- 
mercial problems. If Daniel Webster were alive to-day, 
he would probably be a great corporation attorney; 
and Alexander Hamilton in this generation might be a 
J. Pierpont Morgan or an Andrew Carnegie. Men seek 
convenience and money. They appreciate the advan- 
tages of peace in terms of dollars and cents. The desire 
to avoid financial loss and especially to avoid restrictions 
on the development of industry and commerce exerts a 
powerful influence in all worldly affairs. In it the Hague 
Conference had its origin. It came about in this manner. 
In the spring of 1898 the political world was somewhat 
unsettled. China was in tumult. France was fretful. 
Spain and America were working themselves into a passion 
which very soon terminated into war. France and 
Germany had supplied their armies with the latest 
improved artillery, involving enormous expense. It be- 
hooved Austria and Russia to do the same. Russia hesi- 
tated. Expenses were assuming huge proportions. Gen- 



THE PASSING OF WAR 271 

eral Kuropatkin, Minister of War, figured out a plan by 
which he sought to obviate this burdensome outlay of 
money. He proposed that Austria and Russia come to an 
agreement by which neither would change their guns. 
He reasoned thus: " If we incur the expense, Austria will 
do the same, and we shall be no better off than before 
relative to military efficiency, and we shall be considerably 
worse off financially." Count Witte, however, absolutely 
refused to support the proposition. He said it would 
impair Russia's credit abroad and make her the laughing- 
stock of the world. It would be a confession of impecuni- 
osity. Count Witte, however, further stated that if all 
the nations could agree not to increase their armaments, 
the plan would be well worth considering. He believed 
that the prosperity of the United States was due to its 
unity and freedom from militarism. This opinion was 
reported to the Czar, with the result that he issued his 
rescript to all the diplomatic representatives at St. Peters- 
burg. The other nations had already realized the far- 
reaching significance of the various points involved and 
readily agreed to give consideration to the problem. Thus 
while the fact of world unity remains the fundamental 
cause, it was the commercialistic spirit of the age that set 
in action the movement that is destined to abolish war, 
adopt the peaceful means of arbitration, and culminate at 
last in the United Nations of the World. 

It seems to be the fate of all great undertakings to be 
judged by what the world expects and not by what is 
actually achieved. So the impatient world has passed 
its judgment on The Hague. The result of centuries of 
growth is clamored for in a few brief months by the 
sensational press, and when denied it vents its disappoint- 
ment by a public condemnation. Let us be grateful that 
the clamor for sensational achievement was denied; that 
evolution and not revolution has triumphed. 



272 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

A careful study of the field of work considered at The 
Hague reveals no cause for disappointment or regret. 
Three subjects were discussed and passed upon. First, 
the laws of modern warfare were considered and numerous 
provisions were adopted which tend to mitigate the evils 
and the cruelty of war. The second great subject was 
arbitration. To this the friends of peace may point with 
hope and pride. No ridicule of condemnation by the 
sensational press can conceal the progress so clearly evi- 
denced. The provision for the International Court of 
Appeals is a distinct advance which cannot be denied. 
And when we consider that upon it is conferred a legisla- 
tive function as well as its judicial power, no reason can 
remain for condemnation. Still greater is the magnitude 
of the American proposal which provides compulsory 
arbitration for contractual debts. This is the beginning 
of the end; for it restricts the field of war. Disarmament 
was a third great project contemplated. Here the failure 
is obvious and complete. The reason is also apparent; 
it is sought to remove an effect without first considering 
the cause. When arbitration has so far taken the place 
of war as to result in a formal world union, then the reduc- 
tion and the final abolition of armaments will inevitably 
follow. Until that time the nations of the earth will in- 
crease and not decrease their armaments. In fact, they 
may become so burdensome that the utter stupidity of it 
all will become so evident as to constitute the strongest 
economic argument for a world federation. 

The progress onward to the world of peace is slow but 
sure. Force rules the world still. The god of war con- 
tests each step of progress with a mighty host. Through- 
out the ages to the present time his reign has been su- 
preme. His force is used to fight the brotherhood of man 
against the peace and honor of humanity. Disarmament 
is denied; the god of war must keep his battle-axe to the 



THE PASSING OF WAR 273 

last. Yet he must bow his head in silence to the restric- 
tions of The Hague and enter not the places it forbids. 
And thus he finds his liberty denied and contemplates 
his vanishing power, — the forecast of an inevitable 
doom. 

Progress points us toward the goal of universal arbitra- 
tion. Arbitration is the logical precedent of world fed- 
eration. The establishment of a permanent tribunal at 
The Hague means that a world judiciary is developing. 
As its field of activity grows and its functions increase, 
the conferences at The Hague must become more frequent. 
This means that a world legislative department is in the 
process of concrete formation. The culmination of the 
process, as in all governmental units, must be the creation 
of a world executive. And thus the federation of the world 
will come to pass. Though time is slow to mark the 
change, it may be nearer than we can believe; for there is 
a world constitution developing, unwritten, not called by 
that name, but existing as -surely as the animal kingdom 
existed before it was named by Adam. Its basic prin- 
ciples are recognized by nations in their codes and 
treaties, for it contains the truths that involve the very 
nature of humanity as a created whole. 

When the thirteen original colonies established their 
independence, you will remember that each one had the 
idea that it was a sovereign state, free, independent, 
and owing allegiance to nobody. Local prejudice and 
interests made them unwilling to yield their so-called 
independence to the central governing body. But the 
principle of natural unity, asserting itself through a disor- 
ganized currency, industrial distress, and political antago- 
nism made evident the necessity of union. The test of 
time has proved the wisdom of the founders of that union. 
The United States stands as a witness to all the world of 
the peace and prosperity which union can bestow. The 



274 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

United States of America is the prototype of the United 
Nations of the World. 

So shall it be at last, when the war-cloud no longer casts 
its shadow o'er the earth, when the brotherhood of man 
is manifested by political world unity; then the teachings 
of the Prince of Peace shall spread : — 

"Till the war-drum throbs no longer, 
And the battle flags are furled, 
In the Parliament of Man, 
The Federation of the World. 
Then the common sense of most 
Shall hold a fretful realm in awe, 
And the kindly world shall slumber, 
Wrapt in universal law." 

In the world's to-morrow the battle-field will have no 
place. For a higher civilization, intensified with each 
generation that transmits it, must culminate at last in 
an age of universal peace. 

The world is weary of the past, the past of oppression, 
of physical tyranny, and of bloodshed. It is ready, yea, 
eager, to enter upon its noble inheritance in which the 
moral law of love shall reign supreme. Does not the 
trend of events in the present time indicate a coming age 
of justice, in which might shall quail before right, in which 
union shall take the place of antagonism, and harmony of 
discord ? Then the rivalry of nations shall lie in the arts 
of peace and not of war : not arsenals and battleships and 
military array, but stacks and towers of commerce, great 
institutions, and broad fields of perfect vegetation ! De- 
velopment of booly, mind, and soul, through science, art, 
and culture shall be the chief concern of man. 

Napoleon with all his victories found no glory in them 
when the time of parting came. On the barren shores of 
St. Helena, where the mists of the stormy Atlantic op- 
pressed him with gloomy forebodings, Napoleon, in his last 



THE PASSING OF WAR 275 

days, knew that it had all been wrong. No good to man or 
favor in the sight of God could bless his memory, for his 
had been the thought that might made right, that the 
battle's glory justified the cruelty, the pain and bloodshed, 
the inhumanity and strife and carnage of war ! 

By the peaceful waters of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus of 
Nazareth taught his neighbors the simple doctrine of peace 
and good will. And spreading outward o'er the earth 
in its simple, quiet, peaceful way, the influence of that 
doctrine has become a mighty power, and none can doubt 
that it is destined to rule the world in peace. 



THE SUPREMACY OF IDEAS 
Malcolm Douglas 

OHIO UNIVERSITY 

(Awarded first place in the Contest for the Brown Prize in Oratory, 

1907) 

Every created object is the embodiment of a mental 
vision. Great deeds are the offspring of great ideas. We 
conceive the universe to be representative of an infinite 
Intelligence. The world, stars, the solar system, and the 
myriad systems beyond it were thought before they ex- 
isted. Answering a great idea, Chaos sprang into order 
and beauty. 

We behold the bloom of the flower and the hues of the 
sky, and ascribe them to the delicate imagery of divine 
ideals. This conception was advanced by Plato while 
strolling through the delightful groves of the Grecian 
Academy. A more sublime thought the mind has never 
entertained. When God said, " Let us make man in our 
image, " the ideal man at that moment existed; the real 
followed as a consequence. When man was given domin- 
ion over all created things, it was because he possessed, 
in a superior degree, the power of formulating ideas. 
" Thought is the seed of action," says Emerson, "but 
action is as much its second form as thought is its first." 

Empires were never built until men dreamed of empire. 
The strength of a nation depends upon something greater 
than wealth and numbers, greater than forts and armories, 

276 



THE SUPREMACY OF IDEAS 277 

greater than armies and navies. It rests upon the ideas 
and sentiments that inspire her people, — "the quality 
of their thought." 

History offers innumerable illustrations wherein the 
onslaught of outnumbering foes was warded off by a 
superior intelligence. We may still draw a lesson from 
Thermopylae, where the Persian hosts learned that valor 
and enthusiasm make better weapons than the strongest 
spears. The Spanish Armada, boasting herself invincible, 
was met and defeated by the fervor of Saxon patriotism. 
In our Revolution, the superiority of the American 
bayonet lay in the spirit of "the man behind the gun." 

Every nation which has achieved greatness has risen 
by the influence of fixed ideals. Her greatness is of the 
spirit, and is immortal. The history of European intel- 
lectual progress has been the history of spreading Helleni- 
zation. Greece is not dead! The potency of her ideas 
stands as a lasting monument to her fame. It is only the 
visible that dies. The soul of a nation lives on, and its 
essence passes into civilization. "For the things which 
are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen 
are eternal." In the laws of the land is embodied the 
wisdom of the ages. The march of civilization follows 
the march of high ideals. "Civilization is another name 
for thinking." "Civilized man is thinking man." The 
dark tribes of Africa may be perfect in body, in muscular 
and vital force, in physical energy; nevertheless, their 
ability to think is primitive, and as a consequence they 
are at the complete mercy of civilized peoples. 

Lofty sentiments, great principles, and nobility of pur- 
pose make those who possess them the salt of the earth and 
the light of the world. Our absolute confidence in our 
Union is the fountain of our strength. America's greatness 
is her belief in her own destiny. 

The principle upon which national success depends may 



278 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

be applied with even greater force to individuals. The 
man who thinks is the master. The physical organs are 
given only for the service of the mental — a house for 
the spirit. Philosopher and imbecile are of the same 
clay. Both wither into inorganic dust. It is the soul 
which vivifies the body and gives it potency. The differ- 
ence in men is the difference in intellects. It is the best 
head that makes the best place. The conception of a 
building exists in the mind of the architect before the first 
stone is laid. The plan stands out in his brain as a fault- 
less model. The chiseller of a Venus de Milo or an Apollo 
Belvedere must have an ideal — a type more perfect 
than reality. 

The great of the world achieved their greatness by tire- 
less and unceasing effort. They have worked and studied 
patiently, persistently, silently, by torchlight, by candle, 
or by lamp ; in riches, poverty, and want ; in the solitude 
of the forest or of the city. Before a conflict the Emperor 
Napoleon thoroughly acquainted himself with every 
inch of territory to be covered; he carefully planned every 
manoeuvre before a single gun wheeled into action. Upon 
the field of battle his ability was the equal of an hundred 
thousand men. Aristotle was the first to give philosophy 
a system ; his thoughts are still the guiding stars of scien- 
tific thinking. It required a Galileo to solve the riddle 
of the physical universe by watching the falling of two 
stones from a leaning tower. We see the Great Admiral 
toiling in a dusty attic over a wooden globe. 

Those who have accomplished great things have first 
thought great things. Every kingdom, every great in- 
vention and scientific discovery,, every religious and polit- 
ical movement, had its origin in a single mind ; they were 
wrought by a few great intellects. All men who have 
become great have had a remarkable clearness of percep- 
tion, " a vision that worketh great marvels." A Bismarck 



THE SUPREMACY OF IDEAS 279 

must possess this power; a Newton! a Humboldt! an 
Alexander Hamilton! 

The pyramids of Egypt present a greater show of sub- 
stance than a page in the New Testament; but, over the 
religious ideas written on that page, whole nations have 
been split asunder, while the massive pyramid remains 
only as a shade of the buried past. 

Thought is the most potent force in the world. It is 
the motor power of progress. By thought the highway 
of improvement has been turnpiked from the wigwam to 
the palace; by thought steam has been shackled like a 
mighty giant to turn our countless wheels of toil ; thought 
has transformed the lightning of Jupiter into a messenger 
that, like an obedient fairy, "puts a girdle round the world 
in forty seconds''; thought has taken a handful of sand 
and made a telescope with which we read the sublime 
mystery of the universe. By thought all things are done. 
Thought is the miracle worker of the ages. Mind must 
yet completely triumph over matter ! 

But, with all his power, the thinker seldom meets with 
immediate victory. He must fight his way against con- 
stant opposition, abuse, and failure. Only by clinging 
to his soul's ideals is he able to surmount the obstacles 
which surround the Hall of Fame. Concentration, hope, 
and enthusiasm are his only passwords. Paul the 
Apostle, from whose letters mankind gleans its noblest 
sentiments, was despised, reproached, and persecuted; 
but the ideals which inspired him were immovably fixed, 
and his influence must endure forever. Martin Luther, 
the soul of the Reformation, made his principles the goal 
of his life. It was only his unbounded enthusiasm that 
gave him courage to say, "Here I stand! I cannot do 
otherwise! God help me!" 

But the most striking illustration of the topic stands 
engraven upon the minds of all. It is the crucifixion of 



280 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

the Christ. He who fed the hungry, visited the sick, 
and comforted the mourning, gave his life for love ! Un- 
believers wrecked his physical body upon the cross of 
Calvary, but the ideas for which he strove come ringing 
down the colonnades of time with an ever increasing 
volume. Heaven and earth may pass away, but his ideals 
are a part of infinity. He cherished the sublime, and 
from his character have been moulded the morals of the 
world ! 

It is not every man who can be a great inventor, a great 
moralist, a philosopher, or a statesman. We have "gifts 
differing according to the grace that is given to us"; but 
every one can strive to reach perfection in what he at- 
tempts; and he can more nearly attain it by having his 
life firmly centred upon lofty ideals. When an immortal 
ideal is once conceived, it lends its followers a share of its 
omnipotence. In our prayers is written the history of 
our future. The lesson taught by nature and experience 

is, 

" to hope till hope creates 
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates ; 
Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent; 
This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be 
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free ; 
This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory ! " 



A DANGER SIGNAL — FOREIGN IMMIGRATION 
Wheeler J. Welday 

OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 

(Awarded second place in the Contest of the Central Oratorical League, 

1909) 

Self-satisfaction is often the sequel of success. As 
with the individual, so with the nation; and indeed the 
greater the national prosperity, the greater the indifference 
toward those social and political questions which, under 
less prosperous conditions, would be of the deepest mo- 
ment. Accordingly the United States, during the industrial 
depression succeeding the Civil War, was intensely alarmed 
over a question of political economy that sinks into com- 
parative insignificance with the same problem, which at 
the present day actually escapes the concern of many 
of our leading economists. By this I refer to that pro- 
miscuous stock of humanity now entering our political 
empire at the rate of a million and a quarter a year. 

But we would not ungratefully ignore our debt to the 
foreigner. America owes her very existence to those 
sturdy settlers who braved the cruel hardships of a New 
England frontier. It was their conviction of justice and 
liberty which led them to face the untried sea, and to 
seek homes in an unknown forest. It was their indomi- 
table manliness and public spirit which urged them to 
assert for themselves those inalienable rights of church 
and state, constituting the foundation of an empire — 
the unrivalled glory among the nations. 

281 



282 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

But the scene to-day presents quite a different aspect. 
Instead of those noble-hearted pioneers of civilization, 
we are flooded with a host of immigrants, forced here by 
foreign persecution, induced here by employed agents of 
immigration bureaus and steamship companies, and lured 
here by that erroneous, yet wide-spreading, conception of 
civil and religious freedom which characterizes America as 
the Utopia for the wildest dreams of the foreign fugitive. 
The very blood coursing through their veins marks 
them with such a stain of inferiority as to make the 
native American, proud of his royal ancestry, shudder at 
the thought of their repugnant association. What has 
become of that steady stream of emigrants from North 
Europe which formerly comprised the bulk of our immigra- 
tion, and which represented that illustrious family of 
Teutons and Celts to which belonged your forefather 
and mine ? What has become of them ! almost entirely 
supplanted, if you please, by Iberians and Slavs; making 
the United States not only unparalleled for ethnic diversity 
anywhere else on the globe, but filling her with a congeries 
of beings representing races drained of those superior 
qualities to which democratic institutions owe their 
establishment. 

But mere racial prejudice would not be so vital an ob- 
jection were it not augmented by irremediable evils within 
our political domain. Immigration, to be effective, in- 
volves a twofold operation. There must be considered 
both the direct benefit we can derive from the immigrant, 
and the direct good we can do him ; and on the latter de- 
pends our only safeguard to American institutions and 
customs. Both these incumbent steps are possible only 
by proper economic distribution; and right here lies the 
first unsolved problem of immigration in the fact that, 
in spite of the call of the South and West for labor, and 
in spite of a Federal Bureau of Information, utilizing 



A DANGER SIGNAL — FOREIGN IMMIGRATION 283 

every possible means of distribution, two-fifths of our 
foreign population — the very class, as it were, destined 
to the slums — flock to our cities; thus inhibiting largely 
assimilation and that wide-spreading influence which 
might be exerted by proper diversification. Look at 
New York, that Babel of American municipalities, with 
her sixty-six languages and a population 85 per cent 
foreign. It is alarming when we consider that Chicago 
is the second largest Bohemian city in the world; that the 
largest Servian city is not Belgrad, but Pittsburg; that 
the largest Jewish city is not St. Petersburg, nor is the 
largest Italian city Rome, but our own metropolis — New 
York. 

Such conditions as these not only transform our cities 
into a sieve to collect from that miscellaneous mass of 
immigrants as deplorable a bulk of refuse as the world 
has ever seen, but furnish the very hotbeds of disease and 
vice. Where poverty, ignorance, and greed exist there 
are found the hidden germs of degradation and despera- 
tion. No wonder, then, that in New York fifteen times as 
many foreigners die of tuberculosis as natives. No wonder 
that we find the foreigner 150 per cent more criminal than 
the native; and in spite of our reforming influence, there 
arises, from his very desire to become American, that 
ostensible feeling of freedom from civil and domestic 
restraint which results in the criminality of the second 
generation almost doubly exceeding the original. Direful 
as it is, yet the stringent exactions of the native politician 
possess not half so much terror as the inscrutable black 
hand of the foreigner. Anarchy itself is of foreign origin ; 
and we shudder to think that, coiled beneath this foreign 
fungus, there lies, so secretly concealed, that fiendish 
serpent of lawlessness threatening to poison the very life- 
blood of a heart throbbing democracy. Yes, already 
have we laid upon the altar a costly sacrifice; not to the 



284 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

glory of an obligated divinity, but to the lurking demands 
of a murderous foreigner. 

Thus the unworthiness of the present-day immigrant 
forces itself upon the consideration of every proud and 
patriotic American. I for one confess a sense of shame 
when it is considered that along the eastern portals of 
our nation — on the very spots where the early settler 
stepped over the threshold of our youthful republic, bear- 
ing upon his brow that indelible stamp of justice, freedom, 
and nobility — there is now decanted such a vast mass of 
worthless peasantry from every foul and stagnant pool 
of Europe, a class with no apprehension of that view 
of man which is the organizing principle of American 
life, a class which, never having enjoyed true political 
freedom, has no understanding of the nature of civil liberty 
and hence is unqualified for its responsibilities. Yes, a 
hundred years ago we welcomed the foreigner, but since, 
from the standpoint of racial and individual inferiority, 
so many of our present-day immigrants bear such decided 
contrast to their early predecessors, there arises the first 
great demand for a change in policy. 

Again, the American wage-earner demands protection 
from the cheap immigrant workman; cheap labor and 
low standards of living go hand in hand; and since the 
bulk of the foreign laborers live by such a parsimonious 
existence, it is certain that the American wage-earner, in 
order to compete, must lower his standards to that of his 
debased competitor. As a nation we have adopted the 
policy of protecting ourselves against the importation of 
certain foreign commodities chiefly because we cannot 
compete with the cheap labor abroad, and yet we forget 
that the competition of paupers is worse than the com- 
petition of pauper-made goods. 

But you say there is a demand for this foreign labor. 
Yes, there is always a demand for cheap labor, simply 



A DANGER SIGNAL — FOREIGN IMMIGRATION 285 

because it is cheap — and the disastrous results are evi- 
dent. Indeed many of our workmen, with that true 
American pride, prefer to quit their job rather than drop 
their inborn ideals of American living; and hence there 
ensues a demand created not by the lack of the native to 
do the work, but by their refusal at the signs of degrada- 
tion accompanying the foreign competitor. 

But no matter whether this artificial demand, or the 
natural demand created by our abundant resources, 
the present-day immigrant cannot solve the problem. 
There may be 200,000,000 acres of land in the South, but 
what charm does that offer the majority of our immi- 
grants ? Indeed you can conceive of no greater absurdity 
than to depend upon the Italian push-cart pedler of our 
cities to supply the demands of our great manufacturing 
concerns, or to count upon the dickering Jew of our slums 
to fill the vacancy of farm labor by settling down with a 
hoe on a secluded farm in the midst of a lonely prairie. 

Thus bearing in mind that the future of the American 
democracy is the future of the American wage-earners, 
and then considering not only how the foreigner deranges 
our economic adjustment, but regarding his inadequacy 
toward supplying our normal labor demand, we see from 
still another view point the need of some radical change 
in our present system. 

But a still more appalling evil presents itself in the fact 
that our Anglo-Saxon lineage is not only diminishing 
but deteriorating. Francis H. Walker, that world-wide 
authority on this subject, demonstrates that foreign immi- 
gration in this country has amounted not to a reinforce- 
ment, but to a replacement of our native stock. The 
early history of our republic was marked by an unprece- 
dented increase in native population, but at the very time 
and on the very spots that foreign immigration began to 
any marked extent the native stock began to wane. All 



286 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

human history shows that the principle of population is 
intensely sensitive to social and economic changes. With 
the contact of a mass of foreigners, inferior in standing, 
degraded in influence, and repelling by association, we 
find just such changed conditions as might be expected 
to cause the American to shrink from the economic com- 
petition and social contact; and hence this " shock to the 
principle of population" led to the low and declining 
birth-rate primarily confined to the Anglo-Saxon con- 
tingent. What about New England? Once the ex- 
clusive abode of the glorious Yankee; now her foreign 
birth-rate three times the native, and annually 10,000 
more native deaths than births. Once the cradle of Anglo- 
Saxon posterity; now to the foreigners an exotic rendez- 
vous, to the American a sullen monument of lost racial 
aristocracy. 

But in this connection we must bear in mind that to 
the extent that assimilation does occur, the absorption 
of such a subordinate type of humanity must result in a 
watering of our national life-blood. Racial improvement 
depends upon the birth-rate of the competent. Why, 
then, so much attention toward promoting engenic science 
among the lower animals, and yet man, the most impor- 
tant of all, be left to change ? Human species must be 
subject to the operation of the same great natural laws 
applicable to all other forms of life, if human perfection 
is sought for; but since we have a class of immigrants, 
mentally, physically, and morally defective, human degen- 
eracy is inevitable; and when we are forced to realize the 
fact that we are losing our Americanism, the chief attri- 
bute of our unchallenged national superiority and the 
sole factor by which the pride and glory of our future 
American republic is anticipated, it is time that every 
intelligent and liberty-loving patriot arose from his in- 
dustrial servitude to a sense of the unconditional exigency 



A DANGER SIGNAL - FOREIGN IMMIGRATION 287 

of saving our national family — for "111 fares the land to 
hastening ills a prey, where wealth accumulates and men 
decay." 

Now with all due regard to the efficacy of our existing 
system, yet there are too many things which our present 
restrictive policy, even at its highest degree of perfection, 
can never attain. As we see, there is racial inferiority, 
but restriction can never change the leopard's spots. 
There is the congested city, but restriction can never mean 
distribution. There is the degraded moral and political 
influence, but while restriction can inspect the immi- 
grant's face, it can never read his heart. There is the labor 
problem, but mere restriction can never satisfactorily 
solve it. There is race suicide, but mere restriction can 
never rescue. Our laws bear the stamp of half a century's 
perfection, and yet their inefficiency is seen in the fact that 
of all the anarchists, which are commonly known to come 
to America, last year only two were discovered at our 
ports. Again, the famous Hansen affirms that one hun- 
dred and eighty lepers of whom he has definite knowledge 
have emigrated to America since 1900. How are we to 
discover a beggar when he is loaned the necessary money 
to migrate ? How can we prevent steamship traffic when 
we must guard the whole continent of Europe to do so ? 
How can we detect an anarchist or a polygamist when we 
must depend upon their own certification ? Indeed, the 
need of some change to-day is so strikingly evident that it 
cannot fail to convict any but the dogmatically obstinate 
or the irrationally indifferent. 

Now we will confess that we need the foreigner. Amer- 
ica could stand 150,000,000 of the right class. But we 
must also confess that there is an alarming proportion of 
our present immigration which under no consideration 
is competent for American citizenship or even fit for 
American association. The problem, then, before us is, to 



288 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

get the right class with less of the wrong. We must note 
that immigration is gradually becoming a matter of state 
concern. New York has just recommended a commission 
to deal with her immigration problem. The whole ques- 
tion of labor is of state interest alone. The Federal 
Bureau of Distribution is but for the purpose of ascer- 
taining state needs. The South and West are almost 
despairing in their call for labor, so that already it has 
become a state issue in Mississippi, Wyoming, Oregon, and 
Missouri, of which the latter just last month appointed a 
state board of immigration with an appropriation of 
$25,000 to induce worthy immigrants. Clearly, then, 
since the states are seeing that satisfactory results are to 
be obtained only by taking the matter in their own hands, 
and since the federal government is in utter bewilderment 
over increasing problems which she cannot solve, the 
most rational solution is to make the demand for foreign 
immigration entirely subject to state solicitation — to the 
one political body best qualified to satisfy its own eco- 
nomic considerations and hence that of the nation. 

Under this plan provision can be made whereby the 
United States can admit practically every exceptional 
class in exactly the same manner that she now admits 
certain classes of the excluded Chinese. But since the 
chief need is the natural labor demand created by our 
natural resources, then the states can employ by contract 
labor such foreign supply as an appointed bureau in each 
state deems necessary after a careful study of their own 
economic conditions. 

This provision is entirely legal, as seen by the recent 
decision of the Supreme Court in sustaining the action of 
South Carolina. It is wholly expedient, for if simple and 
effective results can be obtained by corporations, it will 
apply likewise to the states. It will not only solve the 
problem of distribution, but it will relieve the federal 



A DANGER SIGNAL — FOREIGN IMMIGRATION 289 

government of the necessity of offending such friendly 
nations as Japan and China over matters of state concern. 
It will not only preserve the good features of our present 
system, by enacting on all admitted immigrants the same 
restrictions now in force, but it will, without official dis- 
crimination in regard to race or creed, stop of that hetero- 
geneous influx of foreign fugitives and admit only such as 
are selected to support us in our upward march of prog- 
ress and national development. 

This is not a mark of selfishness and inhumanity on 
our part. Self-defence is the first law of nations. We 
have supported the foreign distressed, but we cannot 
offer an asylum for their refugees. We have regarded 
their rights, but we cannot permit them to drain their 
stagnant reservoirs on our soil. We have thrown open 
our gates to all the world; but on the sounding of the 
danger signal, we disregard our moral as well as our po- 
litical duty when we permit to suffer our institutions, our 
standard of living, and our Americanism. 

Our apparent inhumanity is often but a mistaken spirit 
of humanity; for our highest duty to mankind is to render 
ourselves worthy examples in the eyes of mankind, and by 
surrendering too freely our blood as a benefactor to a 
deteriorated class it but destroys our very power to uplift 
them. Yes, our ideals must be kept untarnished if our 
influence would be inculcated. And in sustaining our 
ideals we must be protectorates of humanity. What 
America needs more than pretentious pomp or monopo- 
lized mammon is men, high-minded men. We need men 
whose hearts instinctively throb with ours in defending 
the cause of home and happiness, men whose voices 
impulsively blend with ours in chanting the song of un- 
dimmed freedom and patriotic love; and as we gaze pro- 
spectively into the future, and see amid the constellation 
of nations the United States rising majestically in the 



290 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

zenith of her splendor, shedding forth her rays of inspira- 
tion and enlightenment over all the gloom of depraved hu- 
manity, the glory can be attributed to no one more certain 
source than to the fact that present generations, in dealing 
with this immigration problem, have legislated in accord 
with that one sublime aim of preserving our God-given 
standards of American manhood. 



THE FLOOD-GATE FLUNG WIDE 
Eugene H. Blake 

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

(An oration delivered in the South Carolina Intercollegiate Oratorical 
Contest of 1906) 

The nation's flood-gate is flung wide. One million 
and twenty-six thousand aliens landed on American soil 
during the year ending June, 1905, and the number is 
still increasing. 

During eighteen months ending March, 1906, there were 
one hundred and forty-two Black Hand murders and 
attempts at murder in this country, and every ship from 
the Mediterranean brings recruits to this element of our 
population. Nunzio, an Italian immigrant, the day he 
landed from Sicily, was offered fraudulent citizenship 
papers and two dollars for his vote, and that vote counts 
as much as does yours or mine. The foreign quarters of 
our largest cities often house a thousand persons to the 
acre. Many of these are beggars, yet grain rots ungath- 
ered in the West, and much of the fair Southland lies 
undeveloped for want of laborers. 

These and other equally grave facts demand our atten- 
tion to America's rising problem, her peril, — the great 
white peril of unrestricted foreign immigration. 

Theories are often good, and magazine statistics are 
sometimes strong arguments, but first-hand information 
is irrefutable. Then let us go to New York, the greatest 
port of entry, the flood-gate, and there study the incoming 

291 



292 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

stream. Day in and day out, year after year, vessels 
from the four quarters of the globe dump their human 
cargoes at Ellis Island. In the immigrant throng are 
people — citizens-to-be — of every race, every nation- 
ality. Before one inspector stands the intelligent home- 
seeker from Scandinavia; before another the simple 
peasant from Russia is legally being admitted to swell 
the ranks of ignorance. Here stands a liberty-loving 
German; by his side a cowering subject of the Sultan, or, 
perhaps, a stiletto-bearer from Sicily. The healthy and 
the diseased, the man of means and the pauper, at the 
rate of three thousand each day, they clamor for admit- 
tance. 

Few are denied that privilege, for our immigration laws 
are lax. Inspectors are there, but their hands are tied 
for lack of authority, and immigrants regard them as 
easy keepers of the gates to this great looting ground. 
Each immigrant must undergo a so-called medical ex- 
amination, but so rapidly is this grave task performed 
that I counted them passing the examiners at the rate of 
eleven per minute. On past the interrogator they file, 
and with an average of one minute's questioning to deter- 
mine each person's fitness to land, they pass the gates and 
are safe. 

This stream of immigration is as old as the country, 
but its source has shifted, its waters are contaminated, 
and herein lies the danger. Until a few decades ago the 
bulk of immigration was of the Teutonic and Celtic stocks, 
industrious, God-fearing, and liberty-loving. They found 
this land a howling wilderness ; they have made it the nation 
of nations. But the immigrants of that stock from north- 
ern and western Europe are now far outnumbered by a 
less intelligent and less desirable class, which pours in 
from southern Italy and from Hungary, Russia, and 
Turkey. During last year alone these Iberic, Semitic, 



THE FLOOD-GATE FLUNG WIDE 293 

and Slavic hordes added more than half a million to our 
already conglomerate population. 

Unequal distribution of arrivals adds to the gravity of 
the racial feature of the problem. The government re- 
port shows that last year the state of Rhode Island 
received over nine thousand immigrants, while South 
Carolina, with twenty-four times as much territory, 
fertile and inviting to the home-seeker, received the pitiful 
total of three hundred and twenty-eight. Massachusetts, 
already so densely populated, got as her burden twenty- 
five thousand more immigrants than the number who 
found homes in the entire South. And now our largest 
cities can scarcely be called American. New York is a 
veritable Babel of tongues. The population of . Rome 
itself is no greater than the Italian element of this great 
city. Belfast is not so large as the Irish colony. The 
Germans of Cologne are scarcely more numerous, while 
New York's Jewish population outnumbers that of any 
other city in the world. 

An alarming feature of the racial question is the enor- 
mous rapidity of increase among the newcomers and the 
corresponding decrease in the native birth-rate in the 
communities where they settle. In 1900 the annual death- 
rate among the native whites in Massachusetts exceeded 
the birth-rate by one and one-half per thousand, while 
among those of foreign-born parents the birth-rate ex- 
ceeded the death-rate by forty-four and one-half per 
thousand. In our slums this increase is enormous. 
Counting the children at play in six blocks of street in 
the East Side of New York, during the heat of an August 
day, I found an average of one hundred and twenty-one 
to each block, and in the cool of that same day I counted 
in Henry Street, near by, three hundred and fifty-one 
children making one block's length of dirty street their 
playground, while the older members of their families 



294 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

sat at windows and on crowded doorsteps in the vain en- 
deavor to get fresh air. 

This enormous alien increase means not only an in- 
crease in the population but a substitution of one kind of 
man for another. The bulk of the immigrants before the 
war were of our blood; these are not. The assimilative 
power of the nation is being reached. A great " dilution" 
has set in. The American blood is thinning, but that 
foreign blood gushes in unstanched. 

As the American type is lowered, so the health of the 
nation is impaired. The maimed and diseased of Europe 
are often disposed of by being shipped off to America. 
Crowded hospitals and insane asylums bear sad witness 
to this fact. Healthy and diseased alike are crowded 
like cattle into the holds of incoming ships, and contamina- 
tion has free play during the voyage. Though a few are 
turned back, the infected and many of the diseased, by 
hook or crook, pass boldly in. Already trachoma and 
favus, those dread diseases of eye and skin so prevalent 
in southern Europe, have appeared here. -I 

The way in which the bulk of immigrants live, flocking 
as they do to unsanitary railroad and mining camps and 
to man-stifled cities, is hardly conducive to public health. 
Having visited, in various guises, many of their so-called 
" homes" in different parts of the East Side, I am con- 
vinced that hundreds of thousands of our alien population 
live in worse surroundings than does the average Southern 
negro. It is true they have brick tenements, but a hut, 
yes, a hovel in the corn-field, where invigorating air and 
pure water are at hand, is preferable any day to man- 
choked tenements where humanity is banked five or six 
stories high, where the air is foul and sunshine is dear. 
From these seething centres of humanity what else can 
we expect than a breed-lacking stamina and strength ? 

Then, too, the bulk of present-day immigrants are lack- 



THE FLOOD-GATE FLUNG WIDE 295 

ing in moral fibre. They have not those ancestral foun- 
dations of American character. Though many come to 
escape oppression, tens of thousands come for low pur- 
poses. They are coached to lie their way past the inspec- 
tors, and such people will hardly stand the test when 
moral questions arise. Our penal, reformatory, and 
charitable institutions are housing twenty-eight per cent 
of foreign-born inmates. Our population is burdened 
with a still greater number who should be there. 

Religion is sadly forgotten in the great change of 
surroundings and conditions. Some of the American 
churches are making a noble effort to welcome the stranger 
as he lands, and save him to the church of his faith, but 
the enormous horde goes almost untouched. Many, 
however, cling to a false religion, — the religion of alle- 
giance to the fatherland, and in such churches as those 
subsidized by Austrian societies keep alive a sentiment 
harmful to the alien's adopted country. 

From a political point of view unrestricted immigration 
is a peril to this country. Dense ignorance forms a splen- 
did field for political corruption, and two hundred and 
thirty thousand of last year's arrivals admitted that they 
could neither read nor write their native tongue. Natu- 
ralization frauds manufacture thousands of American 
citizens, while even the legal process is dangerously taxed. 
These made-to-order citizens are not imbued with Amer- 
ican ideals. They know not the lessons of American 
citizenship, nor can they learn them in a day. They are 
more dangerous to this republic than they were to the 
kingdom of their birth. There they were dumb in the 
affairs of state; nothing was expected of them. Here 
theirs is the voice of the voter; all is demanded of them. 

This danger is greatest in the centres of population, 
which, with their alien vote, have become festering sores 
to contaminate the body politic. As these cities go in 



296 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

elections, so their states go; as a few of the largest states 
decide, the nation is ruled. 

One of the greatest dangers of the problem is its effect 
upon the economic life of the country. Cheap immigra- 
tion means cheap labor and a lower standard of living. 
The evils of unemployment, irregular employment, and 
the intensity of competition in commercial centres mul- 
tiply the hardships of the laboring man. The maintain- 
ing of low wages by importing cheap labor increases the 
inequalities of wealth. Misery, pauperism, and crime 
must follow enforced idleness, and social enmities, dan- 
gerous to all, are bred in its wake. Thus the lot of the 
crowded toiler. Our lawmakers busy themselves pro- 
tecting manufactured goods, but labor crowds in upon 
labor unrestricted. 

Thus we have seen the evil effects of lax immigration, 
how it threatens the moral, political, and economic life, 
yea, and the very existence of the race itself. Truly the 
flood-gate is flung wide and belches forth a destructive 
torrent. Who, then, props the gate ajar? Who feeds 
the stream ? 

Fully one-half of the present immigration is unnatural. 
Steamship companies are growing rich in the human 
traffic, and their agents drum every hamlet in Europe to 
swell the exodus. Our settlers came here of their own 
accord to found homes, to secure freedom of thought and 
of conscience. This stream of immigration is forced here 
to swell the profit of transportation lines and local corpora- 
tions, and they care not how foul its waters may be. The 
flow from eastern Europe can scarcely be exhausted. The 
cesspools of Asia Minor are yet undrained. 

Shall this dangerous flow continue when the flood-gate 
is in our hands ? Shall the scum-laden waters of Europe 
engulf us that purse-proud lords of finance may turn 
their wheels of industry ? Shall an ideal republic, moulded 
by the toil of statesmen and the blood of patriots, be per- 



THE FLOOD-GATE FLUNG WIDE 297 

mitted to become the looting place of Europe's adven- 
turers, to be a dumping ground for the nations ? This 
is not America's mission. It must not be her fate. 
A yellow peril threatened her, and that Western gate was 
sealed. A white peril threatens her, but we stand awed 
at its deathly paleness. 

Action is imperative. Presidential messages contain 
annual warnings that go unheeded. Commissions and 
conferences meet and report conditions graver year by 
year. Deaf congresses sit, discuss, and adjourn, but that 
tide of immigration rolls in unending. 

We would not have the flood-gate sealed. That would 
mean stagnation here. To filter the stream is our hope. 
When aliens are admitted who are of good moral char- 
acter, who come here with the purpose of bettering 
themselves and adding to the prosperity of the country, 
and who can read and write their native tongue; when 
a more rigid physical standard must be met; when the 
legal requirements of American citizenship are made so 
rigid that it can no longer be made an article of merchan- 
dise, — when these just demands must be complied with, 
the stream will be purified. 

Then will this country have added to her population 
more of that which she sorely needs — men, poor men, 
perhaps, but who are rich in that poverty, coming as they 
do for purposes of true betterment; men who have come 
to found homes, to till the soil, and not to crowd slums; 
men who are sound in body, in mind, and in morals, and 
who will perpetuate a race worthy of the name American ; 
men who are citizens — citizens who will guard with a 
pure ballot the sacred rights bestowed upon them, and 
who, when the time comes, will defend with, their blood 
the country they have made their home — yes, give us 
these. Then will that mad torrent that gushes through 
the flood-gate become a life-giving stream, and the nation's 
pulse will throb with stronger life. 



DEMOCRACY AND FOREIGN IMMIGRATION 
James Patrick Boyle 

INDIANA UNIVERSITY 
(An oration delivered in the Interstate Oratorical Contest of 1902) 

After the burial of our late President, and before the 
nation had shaken off the gloom and the unusual seri- 
ousness which had fallen over it, there arose in the minds 
of many citizens this question: After all our experiences, 
in view of the assassination of three Presidents who were 
dearly loved by the people, is democracy right, is it funda- 
mentally true ? Some of us may remember the surprise 
occasioned at that time by reading in the newspapers that 
the first monument in honor of William McKinley was 
dedicated at Tower, a little mining town of northern 
Minnesota. Had that monument been erected in the 
nation's capital, it would have caused no surprise. If a 
statue in honor of his pure citizenship had been erected 
in the city of Canton, it would have seemed but the 
natural expression of neighborly admiration. But when 
we were told that the first monument in his honor arose in 
a locality where three-fourths of the people are foreigners 
or children of foreigners, it seemed as though something 
very unusual had happened. 

And the surprise was a very pleasant one, for in this 
loyalty of our foreign element there is a truth of great 
significance. Governor Van Saut, who was asked to 
address the people on the day of dedication, did not 
speak of the admiration shown for Major McKinley. If 

298 



DEMOCRACY AND FOREIGN IMMIGRATION 299 

he had intended to eulogize the man McKinley, his mind 
changed as he looked down from the balcony of the little 
Vermillion Hotel upon the assembly. Seeing the flags of 
Austrian and Finnish societies hoisted in the air, gazing 
upon groups of Scandinavians, Germans, Irishmen, all the 
noble traits of our late President escaped him, while he 
spoke to those Americanized foreigners of their splendid 
patriotism and thanked them for their heart-felt sym- 
pathy. 

Fifty years ago one might have travelled all day in 
Minnesota without coming in contact with the least sign 
of civilization. In the course of a week's journey he might 
possibly here and there have come across a small com- 
munity of German or Scandinavian farmers. But from 
these little settlements there has come a growth which 
astonishes the world. Honest, industrious, proud to be 
citizens of Uncle Sam, they are always working for the 
public good, and very early become interested in the af- 
fairs of their adopted country. Yes, the larger number of 
the people who opened up this great territory were for- 
eigners. They brought the fertile soils under subjection 
and felled the enormous pines which have been so instru- 
mental in filling the state with comfortable homes. They 
opened up the big mines of the North, started the logs 
tumbling down the Mississippi, and harvested the wheat 
which set moving the wheels of the world's greatest flour- 
ing mills. 

And to-day, the children of these sturdy pioneers, be- 
sides improving what was left them, have filled their 
state with meeting-houses and churches, and have built 
up a system of public schools, which, in the judgment of 
men from other states, is a model for the country. They 
fill their legislative halls with men who look with contempt 
upon the boodler and who make possible the building up 
of sound institutions. Republican as the state is, they 



300 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

show their love of principle by rising above party creed 
in their choice of men, and by placing in power such able 
administrators as John Lind. And to-day it is among 
these people that we find a colony of newly arrived for- 
eigners first to honor our late President. Strong in 
physique, full of sound common sense, tolerant in spirit, 
they are throughout this great country among the best 
of our people. 

I do not know whether the little event at Tower affects 
you or not, but it does affect me, for in analyzing it I 
find a reason to believe that our form of government is 
essentially sound. In it I find a weapon to strike down 
the argument of the European philosopher, who says that 
the complete assimilation of our immigrant is not due 
to the fact that our country is a democracy, is not due to 
the responsibility laid upon the shoulders of every citizen, 
but that it is due merely to the country's unlimited re- 
sources. This philosopher goes on to say that no great 
thing, no grand idea, ever came from the brain of the 
many, and that for this reason, in a democratic country, 
social and intellectual standards must necessarily be low. 
Picture to him the magical development of the young 
republic since its foundation, tell him that all this is due, 
not only to the country's unlimited resources, but in 
greater measure to unrestrained representation, and he 
smiles; he says that we are young, that our form of gov- 
ernment is but an experiment, that the two great republics 
of the past, Rome and the Athenian democracy, utterly 
failed after success and permanency seemed assured. 

But there are things which this foreign critic does not 
consider. Laws and institutions existed in those days 
which must have worked the ruin of any state. Can we 
forget that then slavery prevailed, slavery with all its 
attendant evils ? More important than this, can we forget 
that then the alien, be he ever so fit, was not allowed to 



DEMOCRACY AND FOREIGN IMMIGRATION 301 

participate in the government ? Democracy as we know 
it has no such weaknesses; in the life of democracy we 
find the death of slavery; and in this great country of ours 
the honest foreigner needs but wish it and he becomes in 
all respects a citizen. And if one stands out from among 
the reasons which confirm an American's faith in the 
permanency and the superiority of this republic, it is that 
this honest foreigner does become a citizen and eagerly 
accepts the doctrines of democracy, that he forgets his 
old ties and enters upon his new course with spirit and 
vigor, and that when the opportunity arises he is among 
the first to show his loyalty. 

The great ease with which the immigrant adapts him- 
self to our ways and customs is the more wonderful when 
we consider that he does not plant himself always in a 
developed community, but often strikes out for new 
fields and battles against the obstacles nature sets before 
him. Not only Minnesota but the whole Northwest is 
full of sturdy Germans and impulsive Irishmen, of Scan- 
dinavians, Russians, and Poles, who struck out from the 
railway and the town, and through unceasing toil and 
dogged perseverance turned the wild lands of the north 
Mississippi into a granary so large that the entire country 
may subsist upon its products. 

The little band which landed on Plymouth Rock, the 
fathers of revolutionary days, the heroes of our civil 
strife, are no more worthy to be called Americans than are 
these conquerors of nature. Attribute, if you will, the 
material success of the United States to its unlimited 
resources. Attribute, if you will, the large immigration 
to this country to its broad expanse of territory; but never 
presume to deny that democracy is the best discipline 
to develop men. For when you see the foreigner who 
entered the world with the tendency to cringe to the man 
of higher birth, when you see him hold his head high as he 



302 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

walks the streets of an inland American town, when you 
see the look of self-reliance upon his frank, open counte- 
nance, the spirit of freedom that hovers round him, then 
it dawns upon you that in the physical, mental, and moral 
development of this man there are bright prospects for 
the future, that even though the caste system has existed 
for thousands of years, democracy is henceforth a per- 
manent institution. 

And so, as one reason to prove the permanency and 
superiority of this great republic, we may safely set forth 
the rapid development of the immigrant. It is easy to 
see why the cultivated European, who believes implicitly 
in aristocracy, — aristocracy in politics, in wealth, and in 
education, — it is easy to see why he finds only danger in 
unlimited representation. But we, who firmly believe 
in the education of the masses, who daily see the law of 
equality stimulating men, who perceive the mental de- 
velopment which participation in the government brings 
the foreigner, we, who come in contact with all this, have 
reasons to believe in democracy and to uphold its doctrines. 

Ask one of these sturdy adventurers in regard to the 
matter, ask him why he left fatherland, the family hearth, 
to create a home in the wilds of America, and listen to the 
answer: "I love the home, I love liberty. There the law 
took my sons from me and placed them in the army; 
here they assist me in my labors. There I tipped my hat 
for I was not my own; here I tip my hat out of respect. 
There my descendants were destined to follow my foot- 
steps, to live in the same way as their forefathers had 
lived; here they are given a chance, they have a ladder to 
climb. There I had to guard my speech and control my 
emotion; here, thank God, a man is free to express him- 
self. Who would not accept the toils and privations of 
the new life for these glorious opportunities?" 

With this spirit they come among us and they work. 



DEMOCRACY AND FOREIGN IMMIGRATION 303 

They quickly forget the Old World and become citizens of 
the New. And their progressiveness here contrasted with 
their former lack of ambition is proof enough of the su- 
periority of this government in the developing of men. 

And now, having reviewed the good things which the 
country does for the foreigner, let us consider a little 
further the other side of the question; let us see more 
specifically whether or not the foreigner does anything for 
us. We know how instrumental he was in making us a 
wealthy people. We know that he has furnished a large 
per cent of the force which has made us a great manufac- 
turing nation. But, if this is all, if he is only a wealth- 
producing machine, then, for the sake of this great people, 
let us work with all our might to keep him out. For 
right it is to protect ourselves from the class of men who 
cheapen labor, and from him who comes here to earn a 
handful of money with which to return to his old home 
and lead a life of comparative ease. 

But, on the other hand, this nation should heartily 
welcome those men who have in them a determination to 
rise and a longing to participate in the institution that 
governs them. We should welcome them not only be- 
cause they help dig our ditches and work our mines, but 
because they bring with them a true ambition and a lofty 
spirit, a spirit the same as that which, in 1860, down in 
" Dutch St. Louis," cried out, "I'm not a German, I'm 
not a Missourian, I'm an American, first, last, and always." 
We should welcome them because their frugality and their 
sturdiness strengthen us, because their simplicity and the 
good health that accompanies it will keep us from the 
dangers of the pleasure-seeking life that our prosperity 
makes possible. And, finally, we should welcome them 
because their love and manifest appreciation of their new 
citizenship are a great rebuke to the carelessness and to 
the laziness of the native American. The easy life we 



304 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

lead tends to make us forget the source of our happiness; 
the foreigner comes among us filled with energy and am- 
bition; his every action shows how deeply he appreciates 
the freedom he finds here, and makes us realize how great 
are our blessings, how solemn our responsibilities. 

And so, while we are helping the immigrants in a ma- 
terial way, they are pouring into our veins a fresh blood, 
to make us strong in the face of obstacles, to make us ap- 
preciate our many opportunities, — a blood that quickens 
our patriotism and keeps firm our faith in democracy. 



THE RESTORATION OF THE SURPLUS BOXER 
INDEMNITY TO CHINA BY THE UNITED 
STATES 

Tai-Chi Francis Quo 

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 

(Awarded third prize in an Oratorical Contest at the University of 
Pennsylvania, 1909) 

China is indebted to the United States for an act of 
justice which will go down in history as an example of fair 
play among nations. Nine years ago there occurred in 
Pekin the so-called " Boxer Uprising" — the movement 
on the part of a mad, ignorant mob to drive out from 
China all foreigners. In defence of their representatives 
in Pekin, the powers laid siege to the Capitol and captured 
it. They imposed upon China an indemnity of four 
hundred million dollars. America's share was twenty- 
four millions. Not long ago, the United States govern- 
ment returned to China thirteen million dollars, the 
amount in excess of the actual loss suffered by the Ameri- 
cans during this uprising. The significance of such an 
act is manifold and far-reaching. Never before had her 
cordial friendship toward China been so concretely mani- 
fested. Never before had the policy of the "Square 
Deal" been so faithfully carried out. America is the first 
among the countries of the West standing for justice and 
fair play. And by advocating such a policy, she not only 
gives China a strong moral support, but also will bring 
about a great change in the world's attitude towards 
diplomacy. 

x 305 



306 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

Heretofore, diplomacy has been generally regarded and 
practised as the craft of securing advantages, even by 
dishonorable means; and woe to that country which 
heretofore has used its diplomacy only to effect fair ad- 
justment. The contemporary history of the world offers 
only too many proofs of this fact. The Celestial Empire, 
whose traditional national policy is peace and honesty, 
has been robbed of her territories and rights. The Eu- 
ropean powers, whose motto is " Get as much out of your 
neighbors as you can," have enriched themselves with 
territorial accessions and increased their political pres- 
tige. The rules and principles which govern the conduct 
and determine the morals of an individual have not been 
applied to those of a nation. Selfishness and might of 
arms have reigned supreme in the world's politics. 

But now America shows the Western world the right 
kind of diplomacy, based on equity and honesty. She 
has reimbursed China to the amount of thirteen million 
dollars — an act which goes far to prove that honesty is 
the best policy. By virtue of her prominent position as a 
leader at the world's council-table, the influence of Amer- 
ica cannot fail to be felt among other nations. Sooner 
or later they will follow her footsteps, and the world's 
policy will be the policy that has characterized the Roose- 
velt administration — that of the " Square Deal." 

The restoration of the surplus Boxer indemnity to 
China will have an important effect upon the spirit of 
European diplomacy. But it will have a more immediate 
and significant bearing on the relation between China 
and the United States. The present relation between the 
two countries is, no doubt, friendly, yet the one is in the 
greatest ignorance with regard to the other, and this 
ignorance inevitably results in bigotry and often in mutual 
contempt. Unscrupulous writers have misrepresented 
each country to the other, and undesirable emigrants have 



RESTORATION OF THE INDEMNITY TO CHINA 307 

seemed to confirm the reports of such writers. America 
regards China as a country filled with laundrymen, 
coolies, and rat-eaters; while China, to reciprocate this 
favorable impression, considers America the home of a 
people characterized by curly hair, long noses, deep-set 
blue eyes, and thick red whiskers, — characteristics which 
may often appear beautiful to the Americans, but which 
seem so ugly and frightful to the Chinese that they call 
your people " foreign devils." China has, however, suf- 
fered very much the more from such a state of affairs. 
But the recent generous act of America has opened the 
way for a better understanding in the immediate future. 
The Chinese government, to show her and her people's 
appreciation of America's favor, has decided to spend all 
the money returned by the United States in sending 
Chinese youths to this country to be educated. Beginning 
this year, she will send one hundred students a year for 
the first four years, then fifty each year as long as the fund 
shall last. The good results that will flow from this 
cannot be overestimated. At present the number of 
Chinese students in this country is like a few drops of 
water in a big ocean. But with the increasing number 
their influence will be deeply felt. They are messengers 
of China's good-will and friendliness towards this country. 
They will struggle, as an important part of their duty, to 
remove every trace of misunderstanding existing between 
their people and the people of the United States. Like 
merchants, they will exchange the products of Eastern 
institutions for those of the West. By amicable words 
and good conduct they will represent their race in its 
true worth and quality. Then the American public will 
see the Chinese race in the proper light. Likewise, after 
the return of these students to their fatherland, their 
countrymen will be corrected of their false impressions 
about the Americans. Then there will be brought about 



308 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

a clear, thorough understanding between the citizens of 
the Celestial Empire and the citizens of the greatest re- 
public. Then the oldest nation and the youngest of the 
world will be the best of friends. 

Such, then, is the manifold and far-reaching signifi- 
cance of America's return of the surplus Boxer indemnity 
to China. Ladies and gentlemen, I congratulate you as 
Americans on creating such a grandly fair national spirit 
and policy and on maintaining such a friendly attitude 
toward China in her epoch-making reforms. In so doing, 
your country has exhibited a wisdom and foresight which 
will surely win the confidence and friendship of all the 
Eastern countries. It is, besides, a diplomatic triumph, 
American over European, the fair and honest over the 
crafty and selfish. 



THE GROWTH OF THE UNITED STATES AS 
A WORLD-POWER 

S. Arthur Devan 

RUTGERS COLLEGE 

(Awarded the Rhetorical Honor at the Commencement of Rutgers 
College, 1909) 

In 1863 Mr. Ruskin characterized Americans as having 
minds " frantic with hope of uncomprehended change, 
and progress they know not whither." Grotesque as 
we may feel this criticism to be, we cannot but admit its 
partial truth. We Americans are a little fond of change 
for its own sake, without taking a long look ahead at the 
probable eventuation of it all. And in the century and 
a half of our national existence, greater changes have been 
taking place, we can easily believe, than have been encom- 
passed within the limits of any similar period in the history 
of man. We are being swept on in the current of destiny 
past unfamiliar shores. In the hands of that Power that 
controls the affairs of men, our national life is undergoing 
an evolutionary change that no force of man can stop. 

See what has taken place. A hundred and thirty years 
ago, thirteen colonies were living here on the margin of an 
untrodden continent. In less time than it took Rome to 
overcome her rival Etruscan city ten miles away, those 
colonies had broken the sovereign yoke of the British 
Empire and formed a national union under a constitution 
that has excited the admiration of the world ever since. 
Out of thirteen jealous states a national union was formed 
such that the welfare of the whole was made dependent 
on the welfare of its members, and the welfare of the mem- 

309 



310 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

bers dependent on the welfare of the whole, thus making 
a perfectly balanced federative republic. 

That constitution has proven so perfectly adaptable 
to changed conditions that it now suffices to govern a 
territory many times greater than was dreamed of by the 
fathers. And that Union is so perfect that one of the 
bloodiest civil wars of history has had the final result of 
cementing it more firmly. 

Turn from political changes to economic changes. A 
century and a half ago there was a total population of only 
three millions of people, on a narrow strip between the 
wilderness and the sea. In that space of time, so short in 
the life of a nation, those three millions have become 
eighty millions. The continental wilderness has been 
tamed. The great rivers bear upon their broad backs the 
burdens of a world-wide commerce. The land has been 
threaded with railways and telegraphs, arteries of civili- 
zation. Mountain ranges are made to yield up their store 
of metal. The upturned soil of the vast prairies is fat 
enough to make them granaries of the world. 

To this land of plenty and freedom the indigent and 
oppressed of the nations have been flowing, bringing with 
them the most vigorous blood of the Old World. The 
great national characteristics of many nations are com- 
mingling on our soil, by their amalgamation serving to 
produce a new character and a new civilization. 

Herbert Spencer wrote: "From biological truths it is 
to be inferred that the eventual mixture of the allied 
varieties of the Aryan race forming your population will 
produce a finer type of man than has hitherto existed; 
and a type of man more plastic, more adaptable, more 
capable of undergoing the modifications needful for com- 
plete social life. I think," he continued, "that whatever 
difficulties they may have to surmount, and whatever 
tribulations they may pass through, the Americans may 



GROWTH OF THE UNITED STATES 311 

reasonably look forward to a time when they will have 
produced a civilization grander than any the world has 
known." 

And now we stop to ask ourselves whither all these 
mighty changes, this tremendous process of evolution, 
is bringing us ? The final issue lies beyond our vision. 
But we see that now the United States is coming, has 
come, to the forefront in the activities of the world. The 
United States is a world-power. 

The prospect of such an event does not seem to have 
been considered by the founders of our new nation. But 
instantly the establishment of a government based on 
freedom and the rights of man sent a thrill through Eu- 
rope that began to show itself in the French Revolution, 
and showed itself last in the recent victory of the Young 
Turks at Constantinople. 

And the United States is felt to-day as a great territorial 
power. We have been continually joining field to field. 
By discovery, by purchase, by conquest, we have extended 
our borders over mountain ranges and river systems west- 
ward across the continent, and then with a leap across the 
greatest of the seas. 

Parallel with this has gone a commercial expansion. 
Here our empire has been stopped at no foreign boun- 
dary. American energy, American ingenuity, American 
fair dealing, backed up by the seemingly infinite re- 
sources of a new world, have penetrated almost every 
region of the inhabited earth. 

And finally, there is quite another source of Ameri- 
can influence in this world. American missionaries and 
American teachers have carried the ideals of our civ- 
ilization to savage tribes and half-dead civilizations. 
Their influence has been a constantly increasing and 
ever more recognized factor in international develop- 
ment. 



312 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

We need not regret this expansion, this seeming em- 
pire, as some have done. It is as inevitable as the action 
of any natural law; it is the action of a natural law. 
With all the resources at our command, with all the vigor 
and energy of our people, there has been nothing possible 
but the advance of the United States to the foremost rank 
among the nations of the world. And the advance will 
be greater in the future, we can easily believe, than in 
the past. We shall have an imperial future, if we can 
remember that our empire is to be one of trade and civ- 
ilization, not of arms and war. We must not substitute 
battle ships for a mercantile marine, nor Machiavellism 
for the shirt-sleeve diplomacy of John Hay. And the 
future myriads who shall live on this soil must never for- 
get that it is righteousness, and righteousness alone, that 
exalteth a nation. 



THE AMERICAN CITY 
Morris S. Lazaron 

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI 

(Awarded first prize in the sixteenth annual contest for the Jones Prizes 
in Oratory, University of Cincinnati, 1909) 

The development of the American city is one of the 
marvels of the age. Only three hundred years ago a 
small party of Englishmen laid the foundation of the great- 
est republic the world has ever seen. First came James- 
town, then Plymouth. After that the coast was rapidly 
dotted with growing communities, recruited from Europe. 
The colonial period passed, and the young provinces be- 
came a nation. With the introduction of steam power 
and the cultivation of our natural resources, the growth 
of the city received an enormous impetus. Our open- 
door policy made America the Mecca of the world, where 
millions made anew their homes. Overnight a village 
became a bustling metropolis; a railroad station, a thriv- 
ing town. America was pervaded with an apparently 
unlimited energy, which, ever expanding, at last made her 
a power among the nations of the world. 

Meanwhile problems arose. The demand of the people 
for public utilities gave birth to extensive systems of 
public improvements and benefits, maintained by the 
cities. The growth of the city brought with it the neces- 
sity to have waterworks, lighting, sewerage, and street- 
cleaning systems, police and fire departments, schools and 
educational institutions. This growth of function de- 
manded a division of authority. Heads of various depart- 

313 



314 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

ments were created, elected by the people. At last the 
political mechanism became so complex that it was im- 
possible for the average citizen to vote intelligently on 
all the candidates of an overcrowded ticket. The exist- 
ence of many public offices, allowing the holder to be abso- 
lutely independent, made scientific corruption possible 
and alluring. 

Out of these conditions a system of graft has developed 
which infects every fibre of our municipal life. Each day 
brings forth reports of new exposures in our largest com- 
munities. The American city, the representative de- 
mocracy, is drained of her resources by her unscrupulous 
citizens. They lead themselves with her gamblers, they 
allow her thoroughfares to go unpaved, her people to drink 
impure water; they neglect her sewerage and lighting 
systems; they sell her franchises and bankrupt her re- 
sources before the very eyes of a careless populace. The 
American ideal of democracy, the American city, is de- 
based and dragged in the dirt of corruption by the shame- 
lessness of her citizens. 

Such is the state of affairs. Even the most optimistic 
among us will admit that we are face to face with a serious 
problem. We ask ourselves how it is possible that in so 
democratic a country as ours such contingencies should 
arise. There must be something radically wrong with our 
present system, which allows such conditions to exist. 

The reason is obvious. Our municipal government is 
not sufficiently flexible to adjust itself to rapidly changing 
conditions. Does it not stand to reason that the ad- 
ministration which succeeded in a town of five thousand 
cannot adequately govern a city of two hundred thousand 
unless some radical change be made, necessary to meet 
the requirements of a larger municipality ? No such ad- 
justment of government to growth has taken place. 
However, it is essential that something be done. We are 



THE AMERICAN CITY 315 

all agreed upon this. The question is, What change? 
The crux of the matter seems to be the suffrage. The 
right of the ballot is inefficient as an agency of adminis- 
tration. Let us see how this is possible. 

In small communities, having common and well-under- 
stood needs, quite level with the ordinary capacity for 
citizenship, where each man can intelligently exercise his 
ballot, officers may well be chosen by election. But in 
any grown community diversity of needs and interest is 
inevitable, and specialization of function becomes neces- 
sary. The lengthy ticket is a mystical enigma to the 
average citizen, who does not take time to give his 
ballot the careful consideration it deserves. He votes 
for names, parties, — not men. In this way persons of 
whose ability the average voter knows very little obtain 
control of municipal affairs. In this way, also, adminis- 
trative responsibility is greatly divided. The great body 
of public business is left to the honesty of representatives 
of localities, administrative servants who are practically 
irresponsible during their term of office, if they can keep 
within the bounds of the law. Thus they are in a position 
to control the people instead of being controlled by the 
people. We see, then, that the placing in power of inde- 
pendent municipal officers by election in reality removes 
them farther from public control, and presents opportuni- 
ties for graft that are seldom neglected. In this way the 
ballot as an administrative agent, because of indiscrimi- 
nate use, has failed. 

We must get away from the idea that all our officers 
should be elected by the people. The ballot will save us. 
But it is the ballot as an executive, and not as an adminis- 
trative, agent that will save us. Would it not be better 
to decrease the number of our elective officers, to make 
the majority appointive ? Would not greater efficiency 
result by giving to the few elected the power to appoint 



316 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

the officers of their administration ? Why not make these 
whom we elect wholly responsible for the administra- 
tion of the government, both by themselves and by their 
appointees ? If you concentrate your responsibility, you 
will strike at the root of the matter. 

Switzerland is a democracy of this style. English and 
German cities are successfully governed under similar sys- 
tems. Executive authority is so concentrated, and the 
connection between the legislative and executive depart- 
ments is so simple, direct, and immediate, that not even 
the mediation of party organization is needed to secure 
popular control of government. It is this principle of 
concentrated responsibility that is to mark the death- 
knell of corruption. To illustrate, let us take a definite 
example in our own government. We justify the popular 
election of public treasurers on the ground that it is nec- 
essary for the safety of the public funds to put them into 
the custody of an independent official, not subject to 
removal by any other authority save the people them- 
selves. The facts do not bear out this contention. Not 
one dollar have the people lost through the appointed 
treasurers of the United States government. Millions 
have the people lost through the elected treasurers of the 
state and municipal governments. The manipulation 
of public funds, a high development of graft, under the 
elective system, is unknown under the system of federal 
appointment. This, then, is the first step toward a better- 
ment of conditions — the realization of the true function 
of the ballot. Graft exists in all our commonwealths 
to-day, and will exist until we so adjust our municipal 
organism that it will meet the demands made upon it by 
the growing metropolis. When we realize that to develop 
good government we must concentrate authority in re- 
sponsible hands — when we realize that the ballot is the 
most efficient executive agent, we shall have taken the 



THE AMERICAN CITY 317 

first step toward reform. With this realization will come 
growth. It is in the natural course of events. The law 
of evolution as applied to political development demands 
it. 

The American is young and enthusiastic. Blinded by 
the phenomenal material success which he has attained, 
he has for a moment forgotten the ideal democracy which 
Jefferson framed and Lincoln saved. I appeal for the 
awakening of a new patriotism, — not new in spirit, but 
in manifestation; "not one which rallies around the flag, 
so much as one which rallies around the ballot box; not 
one which charges into the deadly breach, but one which 
smashes the machine; not one which offers itself to die 
for the country, but one that is willing to live for it. Such 
patriotism calls for courage no less than that which de- 
votes itself to military service. It calls for men brave 
enough to face the hatred of pothouse politicians, who are 
as mean as they are unscrupulous; it calls for men who 
dare to be unpopular, who dare to be misunderstood, 
misrepresented; men who dare to be ridiculed and lied 
about and abused; men who dare to suffer in their busi- 
ness, and if need be, in their bodies; men who can wait 
for vindication because they are working not for applause, 
but for principle. " 

Already has the true American awakened to an under- 
standing of this high ideal. He has begun to regard his 
city as an extension of his home. He feels a love for that 
larger home, and seeks to make it beautiful and artistic. 
In his heart there is a broader sympathy with his fellow- 
citizens, his neighbors. A new social spirit is born. 
Participation in the life of the masses is the ideal of the 
moment. To the multitude are carried some of the fruits 
of prosperity, leisure, and culture; from them are gained 
democracy, fraternity, freedom of social expression; with 
them is developing a new dynamic force capable of re- 



318 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

making the American community, by inspiring the Ameri- 
can citizen with a new civic spirit. With the rise of the 
civic spirit, the ideal democracy is born, — its people so 
enthused with love of country that corruption is impos- 
sible, political degeneration unknown; a democracy 
rich in the experience of its failures, inspired with the en- 
thusiasm of youth and victory; a democracy which shall 
stand before the world as the highest type of man's po- 
litical achievements. 



THE CITY AND THE STATE 
Okwyn W. E. Cook 

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

(Awarded first place in the Contest of the Southern California Intercol- 
legiate Oratorical Association, 1908) 

" To be a citizen of a great and growing state or to belong 
to one of the dominant races of the world is indeed a legit- 
imate source of patriotic pride." Surely the citizen of no 
country has more reason for such pride than the citizen 
of the United States, and no people play a more impor- 
tant role in the world's affairs to-day than the American. 

The eyes of the world have been turned toward our 
shores since that day when the dauntless Columbus 
launched forth on the unknown Atlantic from the port of 
Palos. The torch of liberty, typified by the light which 
that hardy mariner saw on the shore of the New World 
four centuries ago, has continued to burn, and to-day the 
world beholds on this continent a nation whose people 
enjoy the fullest liberty, religious, social, and political, of 
any on the earth. 

The thirteen decades of our history as a republic have 
been characterized by unceasing activity. Never has 
the world heheld such a spectacle ! Our progress and 
expansion have far surpassed the most sanguine dreams 
of our fathers, and their sacrifice and devotion have been 
repaid in the glory of the nation which they made possible. 
During the first half century our frontier was pushed back 
beyond the Mississippi, the valley of the Father of Waters 
became the seat of a mighty people, the archives of the 

319 



320 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

patent office were filled with specimens of our inventive 
genius, and since the war of the sixties, our growth called 
forth the applause of an admiring world. Not the growth 
of Athens after the Persian wars, nor of England after the 
defeat of the Armada, surpasses ours. In the last two 
decades it has been our unparalleled privilege to carry a 
glorious liberty and freedom to the islands of the sea, 
bringing to them the light and blessing which the Stars 
and Stripes may afford to oppressed peoples. 

A study of the history of the so-called republics of the 
ancient world is not reassuring. Our Revolutionary 
fathers showed great faith in the principles of representa- 
tive government when they launched our frail Ship of 
State on a sea where many another had perished. Though 
acquainted with the warning history of the past, they were 
firm in the belief that Providence had destined the estab- 
lishment on this continent of a nation whose government 
should be the expression of a united people. So believing, 
they founded this government on two mighty principles, 
each of which had been tested separately, and " found 
wanting." The first comes to us from our classical kins- 
man, and has its genesis in the minds of those whose hopes 
were centred in the city on the Tiber. 

During the days of her ascendancy, Rome, seated on 
her seven hills, ruled the world. Her power spread from 
tribe to nation and from nation to continent, and in her 
glory she gave law to the far corners of the earth. Hers 
was a lesson of centralization, which, as a part of our po- 
litical life, stood its great test in the War of Secession. 
To the Roman there was nothing admirable in local pa- 
triotism. The state, typified by the Eternal City, was all, 
and Rienzi bewails her decadence in, "The day was when 
to have been a Roman was greater than to have been a 
King." But even when Roman arms had subjugated the 
world and the Roman mind was formulating schemes for 



THE CITY AND. THE STATE 321 

the welding of these people into a mighty empire, not even 
then did the principle of representation occur to the states- 
men of the time. The absence of this principle from Ro- 
man political life accounts for its failure. 

The second great principle of our government is Teu- 
tonic. The extensive political duties, so important to the 
Roman, were without charm to the Teuton. His inter- 
est centred in the town-meeting and the Witenagemot. 
This principle was preserved for us by our English fore- 
fathers, for, "Only England came out of the chaos and 
Romanizing influences of the Middle Ages with its local 
government intact." But in this principle are not the 
elements which constitute a great state. There must be 
a powerful central government which can act in matters 
between nations, and also possessing power of final action 
in controversies between the divisions of the common- 
wealth. The Teuton loved liberty, but it was personal, 
not national, and in its failure to grasp the principle of 
imperialism is found the weakness of Teutonic govern- 
ments. 

But to-day on the shore of this, the New World, is seen 
that state which unites in its governmental structure 
these two mighty principles. The permanency of this 
structure is dependent upon our development of the 
Roman form of mind in matters federal, and the Teutonic 
in matters local, and our success or failure depends upon 
the active cooperation of each citizen in both phases of 
the government. The American's love for his nation 
must find its pattern in the deed of Horatius; his love 
for his city must equal that for his own fireside. 

Our rural communities are well governed; the local 
problem is not there. But the management of our cities 
may well lead us to question the efficiency of our method. 
Monarchies and aristocracies cope with municipal prob- 
lems more successfully than do we. " And shall America, 



322 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

after gaining a great victory for liberty over a foreign foe, 
suffer disintegration and decline because of internal disease 
which it is not able to expel or resist? " Is the fault in our 
municipal institutions? I trow not, for " institutions are 
but the outcome of forces at work in society." They 
possess no self-activity; they are but the expression 
of the active majority. " Political evolution goes hand 
in hand with social evolution, or civil strife occurs." We 
boast of the wide diffusion of knowledge among our people, 
of our public schools, our public libraries, but have we not 
learned that knowledge without action is as vain as action 
without knowledge is futile ? Do we not know that gov- 
ernment is moulded by the real desire or indifference of 
the average citizen ? 

Ours is not a victory of the lower strata of our cities 
after a hard-fought contest, but " a surrender of respecta- 
bility and the schools." We have followed our own con- 
venience rather than the call to civic duty, and corrup- 
tion and disgrace stalk about our streets. Our cities 
should be first in adopting needed improvements, our pub- 
lic works should be competently supervised, the tenement 
districts should be cleansed, provision made for the public 
health, and local elections depend upon the qualifications 
of the candidates as men, rather than their identification 
with a party. 

Untrue to the principles of our Teutonic fathers, the best 
men have remained in the mart or counting-house too 
intent on personal gain to hear the loud voices of the con- 
spirators who divide the city's funds among them and drag 
its honors in the dust. Do we lack energy? Never 
were mightier forces at work in the world. We do not 
lack mental power, but we do lack the will to perform the 
duties which devolve upon each citizen as a member of a 
municipality. Ours must be the spirit of the Britain who 
would walk five or ten miles to vote for his representative 



THE CITY AND THE STATE 323 

at the shire-meeting. Our cities can be clean, healthful, 
well paved, well lighted, well governed, but only by the 
activity, and the intelligent activity, of the average man. 

But the American is not limited in his sphere of action 
to the locality; he is also a sovereign in matters federal. 
A pure democracy is not possible in a large state; there 
the few must represent the many. Need the democracy 
therefore become an oligarchy ? Must the power slip 
from the hands of the people and be centred in the class ? 
Is that fair dream of the immortal Lincoln, " a govern- 
ment of the people, by the people, and for the people," 
but an illusion? The history of the past gives good cause 
for apprehension, but only in those states where the leth- 
argy of the people has allowed the power to slip from their 
hands, in whom it should reside. 

The crises of the past have brought into bold relief the 
strength of American manhood. The battle-fields from 
Bunker Hill to Gettysburg witness that we hold our in- 
stitutions as sacred trusts. To the Roman a seat in the 
Senate was above price; the roll of the English Parlia- 
ment is filled with names whose lustre will never fade. 
Do we place in our congressional halls those who rank first 
in power and qualities of statesmanship ? Do our repre- 
sentatives look upon their positions as trusts for the use 
of which they must give account ? If not, we dare not 
cry out against them, for they can be no better than the 
people who delegated to them their power. Government 
is but the agent of the state, and back of the state is 
that bulwark of representative government — the people. 
Only their mind can change the government, and only their 
constant activity can make it serve its highest purpose. 

With these two mighty principles — devotion to the 
city, patriotism to the state — our country stands forth 
in the roseate dawn of the twentieth century. Her 
strength, her achievements, her service, will be the theme 



324 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

of the historian of the coming century. He will tell of the 
free institutions which allow of the highest development 
of society and the individual. His story will be of ser- 
vice — a service not only to our countrymen, but also to 
the millions who seek new homes on our shores, and who 
may become elements of untold strength in our young civ- 
ilization. He will tell of justice which knows no color 
line, no special privilege, no mark of wealth or rank; of 
religion whose convictions spring from a knowledge of 
God and a man's duty as a child of God. 

Gazing on such a future, like one beholding the dawning 
glory of a new morning, "let patriotism in us reach the 
height of self-sacrifice, and manhood flower in the glory 
of its divine potency as it has in every great crisis in the 
world's history." 



AARON BURR: A SPLENDID FAILURE 
John Edgar Green, Jr. 

SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 

(Awarded first place in the Contest of the Texas State Oratorical 
Association, 1901) 

Not a few of the great souls that form the splendid con- 
stellations in the world's galaxy of virtue have appeared 
in the West. Many brilliant stars of the first magnitude 
have been contributed by our own glorious America. In 
the short history of this new nation are names which, shin- 
ing apart in their isolated grandeur and peerless attrac- 
tion, shall, like the fixed stars, glow with undimmed 
lustre while time lasts, making plain the pathway to fame, 
and inspiring men to nobler living. Our Western sky, 
however, has not been without its erratic meteors, " wan- 
dering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness 
forever." 

I would speak this evening of one who has been called 
"The Lost Pleiad of the Nineteenth Century/' but whom 
I prefer to designate as a splendid failure. 

Among America's most honored sons once stood Aaron 
Burr, whose brilliancy bade fair to win immortal fame, 
but alas, whose name is well-nigh forgotten, and whose 
memory is cherished by none. When we consider the 
possibilities of his youth, we wonder that he did not be- 
come a sage and a seer; reflecting on the end of his career, 
we are bewildered, and marvel that one who had occupied 
a place so conspicuous in America's political arena could 
have descended to such depths of degradation. 

Of the men who have attained prominence in American 

325 



326 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

politics none had a brighter prospect than did Burr. 
Favored by nature with her choicest gifts, endowed with a 
splendid intellect, and an indomitable will, his very being 
seemingly aflame with an unquenchable love of liberty, 
his early life betokened a future of inevitable success. 
There was something about him that fascinated men and 
bound them to him. With these natural endowments he 
began life under most auspicious circumstances. Events 
conspired to contribute to the gratification of his every 
desire. All nature smiled upon him, and beckoned him 
on to the fruition of his fondest hopes. No gust of chilling 
wind arose to disturb, no darkling cloud appeared to mar 
the serene horizon of his young manhood. Truly, the 
lines were fallen unto him in pleasant places. His life 
seemed destined to be one of prosperity, crowned with 
richest blessings. " What might he not have been had he 
made good the promise of his youth, and the full hero 
been finished in him!" 

The beginning of the Revolution found him a young 
man of twenty, with a comfortable fortune, diligently 
applying himself to the study of law. But, with a readi- 
ness that was characteristic of him, at the first call of duty 
he sided with his country, and enlisted as a private to 
battle for national independence. During that long and 
bloody struggle there was no braver, truer soldier in the 
Colonial army. Nor did his merit long go unrewarded. 
His military prowess was soon recognized by his superi- 
ors, and promotion was rapid. On more than one occasion 
was he distinguished for his valor, and " Little Burr," 
as he was called, became a general favorite. Boldly he 
defended his country's cause at New York, where the 
struggle was long, and, for a time, extremely doubtful. 
At the charge of Quebec, when the American troops, hav- 
ing sustained heavy losses, were being forced down those 
rocky steeps, in disorder and confusion, from the spot 



AARON BURR: A SPLENDID FAILURE 327 

where the gallant Montgomery had fallen, Burr, heart- 
broken at the death of his general, ran back, and, raising 
up the body of the fallen hero, while shot and shell fell 
thick and fast around him, staggered under his heavy load 
until he was safe within the American lines. At Mon- 
mouth, too, when the day was all but lost, and his brigade, 
by a blunder of a superior officer, had been made to halt 
under severe fire, and was on the point of stampeding, 
he might have been heard, in his calm, cool voice, encour- 
aging his men, and thus inspiring them with his own in- 
trepid valor. There, 'mid bursting shell and canister, we 
see him stand like unflinching steel, while the rifle-ball, 
singing its fearful dirge, wreaks its dread destruction! 
Men are falling and fleeing all about him, yet he re- 
mains undaunted, and 'mid shrieks of the wounded and 
groans of the dying, calmly exhorts his men to stand. 
At length confidence is restored, his men rally, the bri- 
gade is saved, the victory won! 

At the close of the war his name was on every tongue 
and became a synonym of courage throughout the land. 
Burr was the man whom the people delighted to honor. 
And in token of their appreciation of his heroic service 
they conferred on him some of the highest offices in the 
gift of the nation. In 1800 he came within one vote of 
the presidency, and it was only after thirty-six ballots 
that the House of Representatives decided in favor of 
Jefferson, making Burr Vice-President. Now we see 
him at the very summit of his glory, honored and praised 
by men, the second man in the nation! Ah, had his life 
but ended here, his name might still have been venerated, 
his memory revered among the great of this Republic, 
and as long as the American Union existed a great nation 
would have paid homage to his name. To this point his 
life had been one of successful achievements, but here he 
reached the acme of his career. And as his rise had been 



328 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

rapid, and crowned with glory, his fall was headlong, and 
covered with ignominy. 

A taste of honors fired his whole being, and he speedily 
became a slave to ambition. He lost sight of the nobler 
purposes in life, and sought only to gratify this inward 
longing for position. Ever and anon, with each fresh 
achievement, his restless spirit, not satisfied, cried out for 
greater things. Listening to the siren song of ambition, 
he sacrificed principle on her unholy altar. Higher mo- 
tives were disregarded. Baser passions held full sway. 
Seeing that he could no longer hope to become President, 
he forced himself as candidate for governor of New York, 
and was defeated through the influence of Alexander 
Hamilton. On the dizzy heights of worldly honors he 
seems to have lost his self-poise. His prospects were 
destroyed, his fortune wasted, his laurels withered, and 
his fondest expectations were blasted. The brilliant 
statesman was transformed into the wild and wicked 
adventurer. Stung by a keen sense of defeat, and irri- 
tated by the opposition of Hamilton, he became envious 
of his formidable rival. In his anger he challenged him to 
a duel and saw him fall under the fire of his deadly weapon. 
Better for Burr ten thousand times had he but fallen there ! 
Well has it been said that for him the echo of that shot 
never died away. Like Lady Macbeth, he tried in vain 
to cleanse his hands of this blood, but in his despair, like 
her, we hear him cry, "Will these hands ne'er be clean ? " 
and down the valley of misspent years "the dirges of his 
Hope" give back the answer, "Never." 

In his desperation he conspired against his country, 
which he once had bravely defended. Unsuccessful in 
his attempted conspiracy, he was forced to flee from 
America, and become a homeless, friendless wanderer in a 
foreign land. Who can tell the thoughts of this morose 
and melancholy man as he wandered on among the strange 



AARON BURR: A SPLENDID FAILURE 329 

scenes and faces of those distant climes ? Did he long 
for the happiness of bygone days, when proudly he walked 
among his fellow-men, and with matchless stride climbed 
the mountain of achievement, on whose summit burst the 
glorious sunlight of fame ? Or, did he suffer the pangs of 
a remorseful conscience, who, in all her gloomy strength, 
with the upbraidings of her awful voice, and the sting of 
her scorpion lash, wounded afresh his broken heart by 
reminding him of "what he was," and "what he might 
have been " ? God alone can tell; but this we know, that 
at length, heart-sick and weary of his wanderings in his 
sorrow, he turns once more to his native land. Here he 
endeavors to reform and reestablish himself in the con- 
fidence and affections of the American people. For a few 
years he struggles bravely, but all in vain. He has gone 
too far. He has descended too low. Reparation is 
impossible. Old age steals over him; sorrows crowd in 
upon him; the future rises in his path like a wall of im- 
penetrable darkness; and out of that lurid gloom not a 
single ray of light emanates to cheer him in his despair, or 
serve as a beacon to point out coming Hope. 

At length, hounded by the horrors of remorse, and 
unable to bear up longer under his ever increasing burden 
we find him, the once brave, honored, and illustrious 
patriot, dying as the poor, neglected, and despised traitor. 
Falling victim to his own folly, his violent passions, and 
betrayed by the sinister promptings of a too vaulting 
ambition, the soldier, the senator, the vice-president was 
lost in the criminal, the traitor, the vagabond. Oh, Burr, 
can it be true that thou, the hero of Monmouth, Quebec, 
and New York hast come to this ? We shudder at the 
very thought ; yea, our minds and hearts revolt against it. 
And yet we are brought to the realization of the truth when 
we consider how weak and how utterly helpless man is 
when his purposes cross the path of right. 



330 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

Calling to mind, to-day, the life of that once illustrious 
man, we say with Emerson, " Character is more than In- 
tellect. Goodness outshines Genius." And we are con- 
strained to believe that native endowments, intellectual 
training, and great victories do not make men truly and 
permanently great. " Greater is he that ruleth his own 
spirit than he that taketh a city." Men need character, 
which has been so beautifully termed "the product of 
heart-power." It is the prime requisite of achievement. 
Upon it as a foundation we may erect monuments as en- 
during as time itself, yea, lasting as eternity. Men who 
have builded thus are the bulwarks of society, and dying 
they live in the heart of the Nation — 

" The dead but sceptred sovereigns, 
Who still rule our spirits from their urns." 

But none of this now. No man can point to Aaron 
Burr as a lover of humanity. "No fond father would 
ever choose him as a model for his son." As a majestic 
ship that is stranded in the shallows apprises mariners 
of imminent danger, so this colossal wreck on the shores of 
life's sea stands as a solemn warning to men of the present 
day. The closing years of his life present one of the sad- 
dest pictures in American history. Once among the fore- 
most men of the nation, he died homeless and friendless, 
without a sympathizing "tear for his death or a flower 
upon his grave." Methinks I see him now "when mortal 
mists were gathering fast around him," and "the pavilions 
of life were closing their shadowy curtains" on the last sad 
scene of his unhappy life. On his furrowed cheeks are 
lines which tell of anxious cares and blighted prospects, 
of blasted hopes and bitter disappointments. No halo 
gathers 'round his silvered head. No loving hand is near 
to cool his fevered brow, no tender voice to cheer him in 
this, the supreme hour of his sorrow. 



AARON BURR: A SPLENDID FAILURE 331 

How fearful must have been the lashings of conscience 
at that moment ! How gloomy the flying features of his 
visions for the future ! And as he gazes for the last time 
on the fading forms around him, methinks I hear him 
murmur, " Vanity, vanity, all is vanity." And the at- 
mosphere of that dismal chamber is filling with the chanted 
requiems of countless misspent hours, trembling at the 
tread of thronging cohorts of misguided ambitions, march- 
ing to the dirges of a wasted life, when from the depths 
of eternity comes the doleful drum-beat of Fate, summon- 
ing the soul of Aaron Burr into the presence of his God. 
The clock in the Tower of Time tolls the final hour. The 
curtain falls on this splendid failure. 



THE SYSTEM OF CHILD LABOR — THE 
MODERN MINOTAUR 

Allen Brown Flouton 

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY 

(Awarded first place in the Upper-class Oratorical Contest of Syracuse 
University, 1909) 

The Grecians have a legend of a Minotaur, that dwelt 
in ancient Crete; a hideous monster, who with fiendish 
greed sated himself on Grecian youths and maidens. 
Each year a black ship with its cargo of young men and 
maidens bound for death, left the Athenian shore to pay 
the savage beast his ghastly tribute. Each year upon 
the fatal day, as the despairing victims sobbing a last 
farewell, began that melancholy voyage, the groans of 
fathers maddened by their loss, the wail of mothers frantic 
with their grief, joined in a vain appeal to heaven, and 
over all the city hung a cloud of woe. 

Only a legend, but how terrible! To sap a nation's 
life to glut a demon ! To see a city yielding up its youth, 
— fourteen each year, — a sacrifice to Greed. How bar- 
barous the age in which such a state could exist ! But 
in our own land there is another monster, more horrible 
than Grecians ever knew. His tribute must be paid 
throughout the year, — each day, each night. In every 
state he makes his ravages. His maw is but enlarged 
with constant gorging. The victims of his greed are little 
children. He preys upon their bodies; he preys upon 
their minds; he preys upon their souls. 

332 



THE SYSTEM OF CHILD LABOR 333 

Witness a cavern where he forces tribute. Visit our 
country's mines, where you will find three times as many 
breaker boys not fourteen years of age, as there are stars 
seen with the naked eye. What is a breaker boy ? A boy 
who sits in a black mine with his shoulders cramped for 
ten hours every day, shut off from all the splendor of the 
sun, the music of the birds, the fragrant flowers. A boy 
infolded with such clouds of deadly dust, clogging his 
lungs, that the light from the small lamp hung upon his 
cap scarcely reaches to the slate and coal which rushes by 
his feet. He strains his eyes to see this slate, which he must 
pick from the shooting mass, and when a piece more jagged 
than the rest gashes his nailless hands, the coal that hurries 
on is smeared with human blood. Suppose he stops to 
rest ? There is no time for rest, as clinkers might, then, 
get into the coal. That he may not forget, sometimes a 
boss stands near with a threatening whip, to keep this 
small machine of flesh and blood from slackening his 
speed. 

Or shall we travel south a space and visit the cotton- 
mill where little girls at five and six years of age become 
the slaves of toil ? Not merely tens and scores and hun- 
dreds are at work, but thousands of these little ones go 
toddling to that mill, which sucks the very marrow from 
their bones. Suppose that we should fill each seat in 
our great stadium with children under fourteen years of 
age; and then suppose we filled it once again; yes, tripled 
it; there still would not be room for all the children 
under fourteen years of age who work within our cotton- 
mills. Amid a roaring Niagara of machinery, a storm of 
lint forever in their faces, they scurry back and forth 
before their looms to tie the broken threads. Progressive 
Science says, "A twenty-minute strain is long enough 
for the growing mind." " Progressive" industry forces 
the growing mind for ten hours every day to a monoto- 



334 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

nous vigil for a breaking thread. When, at last, the 
little minds grow dull ; when rebellious nature keeps tug- 
ging at the eyelids and lays weights upon the feet, cold 
water poured upon them by the "boss" spurs on the numb 
and tired forms to further effort, and the killing grind 
continues. It surely is not strange that " premature 
employment doubles the death-rate of our nation's chil- 
dren." 

The Modern Minotaur is not appeased by feeding on 
the lives of little children. With vicious art he under- 
mines the home. That shelter of youth, fortress of man- 
hood, and haven of age, is but an object for his hungry 
lust. How different the homes once were, where now they 
pay him tribute. The stalwart man, the whole family's 
support, then, toiled with joyful expectation of 

" Wee things toddlin' stacher through 
To meet their dad with flichterin' noise an' glee — 

A clane hearth-stane, a thriftie wifie's smile 
A lisping infant prattling on his knee." 

It was then that knowledge "more precious than rubies " 
was held to be "the principal thing." Then words of 
"fireside wisdom" moulded the minds of future citizens. 
Then honor, hope, obedience, and fear of God found very 
fertile soil, while from the heart there flowed the love of 
country. 

But now, across the cradle rings a fiend-like cry ! The 
startled baby hears that he who eats must work. The 
toddling child competes with his own father. The man- 
hood wage sinks toward the child wage level. Individual 
livelihood comes to depend on individual labor, and even 
our home-maker, the mother, is forced to blunt her nature 
by exhausting toil. Oh, now what is this home ! There 
is no home. It is only a rendezvous; an ill-kept place 
where tired bodies sleep; a place to stay, not to live; 
and where are now these products of the home, the honor, 



THE SYSTEM OF CHILD LABOR 335 

hope, obedience, and fear of God ? Choked by the weeds 
of hatred, malice, and despair. But where now is the moral 
standard formed ? What are the child's ideals, the source 
of his ambitions ? What influence now shapes his plastic 
mind ? The criminal records of Pennsylvania are ready 
with this answer. ".Our criminals are mainly those whose 
lives have been embittered by too early toil." An In- 
diana glass factory stands as a witness with this testimony. 
"Of one hundred and fifty boys, who came to work within 
these walls, there were but ten at the end of a season's 
firing who were not confirmed drunkards." The census, 
too, is willing here to show us, that the future illiterate 
is the child who is now toiling, and that the coming makers 
of the home are frequently to be diseased and dwarfed 
progenitors; parents of children who will be more 
wretched than themselves, for with each generation the 
curse grows. The adult is found to be an ever less effi- 
cient worker. Vitality is gone before maturity comes, 
and he who should have stood in his full length, the 
"noblest work of God," sinks in life's storm, a shattered 
human hulk. 

This Modern Minotaur, in preying on the child and the 
home, strikes also at the nation. He vitiates the sources 
of its vigor. The ill-fate of a nation which did not pro- 
tect these fountains of its strength stands as a warning 
to all other peoples. About a century ago, England began 
to feel the curse of toiling children. The little ones still 
at the age of frolic and of dreams, were sometimes chained 
within the mills lest they should run away. When protests 
were in vain Macaulay made this prophecy ; " Such intense 
labor, beginning so early in life, will produce a feeble and 
ignoble race of men, the parents of a still more feeble prog- 
eny." Still England slept, and still the poison worked 
until at length a few Boer farmers dared to try the nation's 
power. Then, like a Samson shorn of his great strength, 



336 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

England awoke. The nation's best were men not fit to 
fight. The usual enlistment tests were made more easy, 
until at last an army of anemic men, "the flower of Eng- 
land," took the field. They fed the hospitals before they 
saw the battle-ground. Diseased and tired out, they all 
but met final defeat. A nation of forty million that in 
years gone by could sweep the field at Blenheim, cripple 
the Invincible Armada, and humble even the mighty 
Napoleon, could now hardly defeat twenty-eight thousand 
Boers ! The world, in wonder, sought to learn the reason. 
A royal commission, appointed to find out the origin of this 
degeneracy, "gave us a chief cause, the premature em- 
ployment of the children." England, at length, had 
learned, as was prophesied before, that 

"The child's sob in the silence curses deeper 
Than the strong man in his wrath. " 

The nation's strength for war is not alone impaired. 
The evil eats at the very base of our free institutions. It 
makes illiterates, who cannot know the value of the ballot; 
voters with characters malformed, who do not seek to 
have the best men govern; voters who are but clay for 
the demagogue to mould; a bomb to shake our govern- 
mental structure. Stunted in body, mind, and soul, 
through no fault of their own, they do not have a real 
love for their country. Condemned while yet so young 
to lives of misery, they cannot think society their friend. 
They are the men who go to swell the ever growing ranks 
of discontent, producing a class distinction, and endan- 
gering the life of a government founded upon the equality 
of rights. 

Child labor is already sapping the strength of our great 
land. This fungus growth must now be cut away be- 
fore it spreads still farther. Our lawmakers have taken 
steps to save the nation from the mighty evil, but they 



THE SYSTEM OF CHILD LABOR 337 

alone cannot abolish it; secret evasion of child labor laws 
so frequently occurs. The sword of Theseus to slay this 
Minotaur is an aggressive public; an earnest, bold, and 
persevering zeal, inspiring the rich and the poor, which 
will not wane until throughout our land each child is 
freed from premature toil. Then, in the greater America, 
the future citizens in looking o'er the annals of the past, 
will point with pride to the men who broke the shackles 
of the slave, will glory in descent from those who under- 
took a war to save the suffering Cubans, but with the 
greater joy of gratitude for personal benefit, they will 
extol the age which raised the mortgage on their happi- 
ness, and guaranteed to them a natural and complete 
development. 



THE RISE OF THE SOUTHERN COMMONS 
Thomas Allen Houston 

TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY 

(Awarded first place in the Kentucky State and the Southern Intercol- 
legiate Oratorical Contests, 1908) 

More than three hundred years ago Captain Newport 
and his company of Cavaliers sailed up the James River and 
made the first permanent English settlement in America. 
Six years later the Knickerbockers founded a trading post 
on Manhattan Island, and seven years after the landing 
of the Dutch the Pilgrims disembarked from the May- 
flower. Nearly three quarters of a century had passed 
away after the founding of Jamestown when William 
Penn laid out the city of " Brotherly Love." To-day 
Boston has her more than half a million people, Phila- 
delphia has more than a million and a quarter, and 
New Amsterdam has become the metropolis of the great 
American nation; while the site of Jamestown is marked 
by a heap of stones and the largest city in Virginia has a 
population less than one-fifth of that of Boston. Almost 
a thousand miles west of New York there is a city with a 
population greater than that of the largest cities in all 
the eleven states of the Confederacy, and in a narrow 
strip of territory along the coast from Baltimore to Boston 
there is a population greater than that of all the Southern 
states east of the Mississippi. For more than half a cen- 
tury Massachusetts has been taking our cotton and re- 
turning to us the manufactured articles at an enormous 

338 



THE RISE OF THE SOUTHERN COMMONS 339 

profit to herself. The North, in general, has been taking 
our raw materials, converting them into finished products, 
consuming the best or selling it abroad, and supplying us 
with the inferior. 

What is the cause of such a difference between the 
North and South ? Can it be found in the difference of 
climate or soil ? When the Cavaliers sailed up that placid 
southern river, it seemed to them they had never felt a 
breeze so balmy; while the Pilgrims, either by perfidy 
or by Providence, were turned from a more southern des- 
tination to that cold and snow-covered coast of Plymouth. 
Let him who has seen them both say whether the valley 
of the Susquehanna is more beautiful or more productive 
than the valley of the Shenandoah. Is there a region in 
all the North as far famed for its fertility as that of the 
Blue Grass ? The cause will have to be sought elsewhere 
than a difference of climate or soil. 

Can it be found in the character of the Cavalier as 
inferior to that of the Puritan ? Let the sons of Rolf e and 
Yeardley answer in the presence of the sons of Carver 
and Winthrop. Was it Washington who moved the 
nomination of Adams as commander-in-chief of all the 
colonial armies in 1775 ? Was it Hancock, or Lee, who 
moved that " These colonies are and of a right ought to be 
free and independent states " ? Was it Franklin, or Jeffer- 
son, who wrote that liberty-inspiring document which has 
made its signers immortal and their nation a world power ? 
Of the great trio of American orators and statesmen one 
was a Puritan and two were Cavaliers. It is true that 
Grant with dogged determination forced Lee backward 
and backward until at last Appomattox was reached, but 
to-day as a Southerner and as an American I shudder to 
think what might have been the condition of this great 
land of ours had the army of Northern Virginia been 
equal in number to the army of the Potomac. 



340 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

There is one characteristic of the Puritan, however, 
which has told mightily for him; next to his religion he 
prized education; public, universal education, not only 
in books but in business, not only in intellect but in in- 
dustry. Long ago the Northerners learned that it was not 
to their advantage to have ignorant slaves to do their 
work for them; so they sold their slaves to us and learned 
to do their own work better with their own hands, building 
their own factories, opening their own mines, cultivating 
their own farms, thus developing themselves industrially 
and accumulating their wealth with which to educate the 
masses, the common people, the foundation of a democ- 
racy, the bone and sinew of our body politic. Their 
system of education was a pyramid, with the primary and 
secondary schools forming a sure foundation, narrowing 
into the splendid high schools, and having the great uni- 
versity as the capstone. Not so the South. In her system 
— if a system it may be called — the great university was 
the Greek capital feebly supported by a column, stately 
but slender, of private schools, preparatory and primary. 

To-day the South is half a century behind the North 
in the development of her resources and her industries. 
This condition is deplorable; but more so is the fact that 
the South has not now, as in former days, her leaders in 
the halls of Congress and her statesmen in the council 
chambers of the nation. Well might Virginia be called 
the " Mother of Presidents" when four of the first five 
were sons of her soil; but it has been more than three 
quarters of a century since one of the sons of Virginia was 
elected to the seat of the chief executive of our nation. 
Where to-day are the Marshalls and Randolphs, the Cal- 
houns and Crittendens of a hundred or of fifty years ago ? 
They have passed away and sons have not been found 
capable of filling their fathers' places. This is the deso- 
lation of the South, a desolation of men, a desolation of 



THE RISE OF THE SOUTHERN COMMONS 341 

agriculturists, of mechanics, of engineers, of citizens, of 
statesmen, a desolation of that upon which her industrial 
development depends. 

Do we mean to say that Southern mental greatness is 
exhausted ? That in all the "Dark and Bloody Ground" 
whether on mountain or Blue Grass or red soil there can- 
not be found to-day another "Mill-boy of the Slashes" ? 
Do we mean to say that among all the hills and valleys 
of Tennessee there is not somewhere a "Young Hickory" ? 
There are among the masses of the South to-day a score of 
Jacksons, a score of Clays. Shall we give them the free- 
dom and power of education ? Are we doing it ? 

What are the facts ? Of these it is unpleasant to say 
much. If we call the roll of states and territories with 
reference to the illiteracy of the white population, sixteen 
of the Southern divisions will answer one after another 
from first to sixteenth. In 1900 more than one-fourth 
of all the white people in North Carolina were unable to 
read or write. Of the almost four million white children 
in the South we have been giving to each not more than 
five cents worth of education per day for less than one- 
fourth of the days in the year. In this Southland of ours, 
the land of jasmines and magnolias and orange groves, 
there are thousands of schoolhouses that are veritable 
"little low log cabins in the lane." And what might be 
said of the teachers to whom we have been giving for their 
services scarcely more than enough for sustenance ? O my 
dear fellow-teacher, when you and I shall have passed 
beyond the beautiful river, if sadness beyond it can be, 
it seems to me that we shall be sad when we see there upon 
those characters which we have done so much to mould, 
those ugly finger prints which we shall recognize as ours, 
yours and mine. And yet we did the best that we knew. 

It is true the Southern educator has labored under great 
disadvantages. In the beginning no sixteenth or thirty- 



342 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

sixth section of public land was given for public educa- 
tion in the South. Later when the great war cloud had 
cleared away, devastation could be seen everywhere, but 
Southern pride has concealed forever from the world the 
absolute desolation of heart and home that awaited the 
Confederate hero returning from Appomattox. And after 
the war came the carpet-baggers as jackals for the carcass. 
By the Emancipation Proclamation the shackles were 
loosed from the hands of the negro, and by the fourteenth 
amendment to the Constitution a certificate of citizenship 
was given him. Could men have seen then what they 
see now, not a Southerner would have refused him the 
former and not a Northerner would have given him the 
latter, for the safety and strength of a democracy lie in 
the intelligence of its citizens. 

Thus the presence, in the same community, of two races 
whose least difference perhaps is the color of their skin, 
makes necessary the maintenance of separate systems of 
education. This is a question which with us is settled. 
We do not care to discuss it. We believe that separation 
is better for both races, and besides, there is something 
within us that says it must be so. The negro has been 
having the same for his children that we give to ours, 
and he may still have it. He may have his share of the 
choicest of viands from our larders and of the sweetest 
of sweetmeats from our pantries, but he must partake of 
them in his own quarters. 

Moreover, education in the South is the education of a 
sparse and rural population ; while that in the North is the 
education of a dense and concentrated population. Mas- 
sachusetts may build a schoolhouse for each square mile 
of her territory and have sixty-five children to put in it; 
while in Georgia, in an equal area, there are only eleven 
children, and five of them are black. 

These and such as these are the wrongs and difficulties 



THE RISE OF THE SOUTHERN COMMONS 343 

of the South, but half a century is time enough for us to 
have forgotten all our wrongs and to have overcome such 
difficulties. Ye men of the South, 

" Let the dead past bury its dead; 
Act, act in the living present." 

This we have begun to do. 

For three long years and a half, the drought had lasted in 
Israel. But on the evening of the contest on Mt. Carmel, 
the old prophet bade his servant go to the top of the 
mountain and look toward the sea. In vain did he go 
and return until the seventh time, when he saw a little 
cloud rising out of the sea as small as a man's hand; and 
soon the sky was black with clouds and filled with wind 
and rain. 

For years there has been a drought of education in the 
South with scarcely more of moisture than the dampness 
of a dew; but in 1898 a few educators from both North 
and South met at Capon Springs, West Virginia, in the 
first Conference for Education in the South. Insignifi- 
cant as its influence may have seemed at that time, it 
was a little cloud from which there has arisen one of the 
most tremendous and far-reaching storms of educational 
awakening and enthusiasm our country has ever felt. 
Rising as it did in West Virginia, it swept over the 
Old Dominion, on into the Carolinas, gathering momen- 
tum as it passed over Georgia and Alabama, fairly sub- 
merging the lowlands of Florida, Mississippi, and Louisi- 
ana; surpassing the dykes which contain the Mississippi, 
it rolled over the " Father of Waters" into Texas and 
Arkansas ; raging up the valley into Tennessee and slowly 
climbing the eastern slopes of the southern Appalachians, 
it is tardily pouring down into our own Kentucky. 

Do you say that this is hyperbole ? What then does 
it mean that in one year South Carolina increased the 



344 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

attendance upon her common schools more than 18,000; 
that Georgia has established an agricultural school in 
each of her congressional districts ? What does it mean 
that North Carolina has been completing very nearly one 
schoolhouse per day for the last five years, and that 
Alabama is giving annually $67,000 for the building of 
rural public schools ? What does it mean that South 
Carolina is raising annually almost $300,000 by local taxa- 
tion, and that there are now more local tax districts in 
one country in North Carolina than there were in the whole 
state before the organization of the Southern Educational 
Board ? What does it mean that in one short year and a 
half Virginia has increased the number of her high schools 
from nineteen to one hundred and seventy, and that in 
1906 Little Rock erected a magnificent high school build- 
ing at a grand total cost of $150,000 ? What does it mean 
that in Louisiana the teacher's monthly salary has during 
the last three years been increased annually $7.99, and that 
in Mississippi since 1903 the maximum salary of the county 
superintendent has been raised from $800 to $1800 and 
that the salary of the State Superintendent of Public 
Instruction of Arkansas has been increased so that now 
it ranks next to that of the Governor? What does it 
mean that Virginia is giving annually for the improvement 
of her schools $400,000 in addition to her regular state 
taxes for education; and that, of the budget of Alabama 
in 1904 amounting to $5,200,000, more than 72 per cent 
was for public education ? What does it mean that during 
the last two years, for her State University and Normal 
schools, Kentucky has made special appropriations 
amounting to more than $600,000 ? It means that from 
each annual conference men returned to their homes to 
organize and to systematize, to agitate and to legislate, 
and that they found the people ready for organization and 
responsive to agitation. It means that the South is 



THE RISE OF THE SOUTHERN COMMONS 345 

awakening to a realization of the fact that an American 
child is the most productive thing in the world and that 
to develop her natural resources and her industries she 
must educate the masses of her people. 

What does it mean that governors and ex-governors, 
senators and ex-senators are serving as members and 
chairmen of educational improvement committees and 
that the question of school improvement for both whites 
and blacks becomes an issue in a gubernatorial election in 
Mississippi ? What does it mean that 6000 Tennesseeans 
come together in one audience to listen to the discussion 
of educational questions and that education receives 
more than twice as much attention as any other subject on 
the programme of a great religious assembly in Virginia ? 
What does it mean that the press opens a column regu- 
larly for the agitation of school improvement, and when 
the State Bar Association of Arkansas devotes one whole 
session to the discussion of the needs and demands of the 
public schools ? It means that the South has begun to 
comprehend the harmony of the two great forces of this 
age, divine spirits born in heaven and expressed on earth, 
democracy and universal education; the one, equal privi- 
lege; the other, equal opportunity. It means that the 
Southern commoner is coming into the possession of his 
power, potential in a character inherited from Angle and 
Saxon through sire and dame for a hundred generations 
and strengthened by hardship through ages of contest 
and strife. 

Twenty-five years ago it was impossible for a young man 
of the South to wear a pair of overalls during the day and 
a dress suit in the evening; but to-day a hundred thousand 
young men, sons of the best families in the South, are filling 
or preparing themselves to fill positions in the industrial 
world. Society has not been degraded, but labor has been 
dignified. 



346 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

That patriotic Southern woman who during the war 
for independence brought to Colonel Lee a bow and ar- 
rows to throw fire upon the shingled roof of her home in 
which some redcoats had taken refuge — that courageous, 
self-sacrificing woman was a mother, and her daughters 
are with us to-day, as ever patriotic, as ever courageous, 
and as ever self-sacrificing as she. As loving as they are 
lovely, and loving home, they have gone into school- 
houses, the homes of the school; and by their zeal and by 
their love, a thousand tumble-down hovels, which for a 
score of years have been the refuge of ignorance and in- 
difference, have been either remodeled and beautified, or 
razed to the ground and replaced by modern scientific 
structures; and by their hands and by their care, a thou- 
sand barren school yards have been made to bud and 
blossom as the rose. 

And so the conflict has been raging, many battles have 
been fought, and many victories won, but it is not yet 
time for congratulations. The Southern commoner is 
rising, but he has not yet fully risen. Imagine, if you can, 
a great city such as Chicago populated with men, women, 
and children, not one of whom can read or write ; and yet, 
in this Southland of ours, in the land of Dixie, there are, 
ten years of age and older, and born of native white parents, 
enough such people to populate such a city. There are 
in the South to-day 300,000 strong men, an army larger 
than ever followed Lee or Grant, upon each of whom 
lies heavily the yoke of illiteracy, and whose hands are 
bound with shackles of ignorance and incompetency. 
Thermopylae had her survivor to bear the news to Sparta, 
but the story of the Alamo had to be learned from the 
enemy. These men of whom I speak are men in whose 
veins flows the blood of men who died at the Alamo; 
and the sons of these men are going into life's battle as 
young Samsons shorn of their locks. O ye men of the 



THE RISE OF THE SOUTHERN COMMONS 347 

South, has the spirit of Jefferson and Lee frozen in your 
veins, that ye have been standing this long time idle and 
indifferent, while ignorance has been enslaving you and 
your children with a slavery which cannot be abolished 
by any mere proclamation of authority? 

True indeed were Adams's words when upon his dying 
couch he said, " Thomas Jefferson still survives"; and so 
he does even now and will forever; but seemingly many 
have failed to catch the spirit of Jefferson's words, "A 
system of general instruction which shall reach every 
description of our citizens from the richest to the poorest, 
as it was the earliest so it shall be the latest of all pub- 
lic concerns in which I shall permit myself to take an 
interest." 

It is in the training and education of her common people 
that the South has been negligent ; and to-day, in poverty 
and ignorance, in mob-rule and barn-burning, she is 
gathering the fruits of her negligence. This is the present 
task of the South, to train men industrially and intellectu- 
ally. To establish a primary, industrial, and grammar 
departmental school in every district, a high school in 
every precinct, a great university in every state, a normal 
school within reach of every teacher, and a teacher in 
every schoolroom in the land — not a keeper, but a 
teacher; a teacher who lives and thinks and feels and 
loves, whose master touch reveals to the child its kinship 
to Divinity and whose tender love draws it and binds 
it to the Divine. 

This is the labor for the South, a labor for you and for 
me. It is great, but it is grand; it is immense, but it is 
imperative; it is stupendous, but it is supreme. Shall 
we do it? Will we do it? Shall we fail? Will we falter ? 
Shall we tire ? As well might the angel standing at the 
gate of heaven tire, though each time he swings the gate 
ajar a soul is ushered into paradise. 



MEN OF DESTINY 
Maetin Mussen 

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON 

(Awarded first place in the Interstate Oratorical Contest, held at Mos- 
cow, Idaho, June, 1906.) 

Every epoch in history has had its master minds' — its 
men of destiny. In the days when the civilization of 
Greece stood toppling before the colossal power of Persia, 
Miltiades stepped forth like a god from Olympus to drive 
back the invading host. The ever conquering horns of 
the Crescent were gradually closing upon the European 
world, when Charles Martel met the enemy on the plain 
of Tours, and with the mighty blows of his battle-axe 
checked for all time the advance of the Saracen hosts. 
In imagination Napoleon saw the Fleur-de-Lis triumphant 
throughout Europe, but the man of victory was not re- 
vealed until the Duke of Wellington sealed forever the 
fate of France on the field of Waterloo. The British 
Ministry had been forging chains of tyranny about the 
rights and liberties of the American colonies, until British 
subjects, on American soil, inspired and led on by the 
invincible Washington, struck those chains asunder, and 
made effective the Declaration of Independence. 

These men of destiny have been marked by four great 
characteristics, — conviction, purpose, preparation, and 
patience: conviction, the essence of clear vision; purpose, 
the determination to carry out a conviction ; preparation, 
the necessary equipment for real achievement; patience, 
the ability to stand amid conflicts, difficulties and strife, 

348 



MEN OF DESTINY 349 

disasters and misfortunes, and wait for the psychological 
hour to strike. 

Man without a conviction, like a derelict, is buffeted 
by the winds of chance. To-day he is on the wide sea, 
holding an uncertain course; to-morrow he lies on the 
beach, abandoned. But the man of conviction stands 
upon the solid rock of truth. Time and the elements 
beat upon him in vain. In the dark days of ignorance 
and superstition, to think, to speak, was but to invite 
death. Yet even then was heard the voice of the zealous 
Paduan: " Awake, thou that sleepest, and truth shall 
give thee light." True to the inner man, Savonarola 
hurled anathema upon anathema at the Papacy. Pope 
Alexander VI resolved to silence him, and employing the 
subtle weapon of bribery, ordered a bishop "to give him 
a red hat and to make him at once a cardinal and a friend." 
The humble preacher replied from his pulpit at San Marco, 
"Fll have no other red hat than that of martyrdom, 
colored with my own blood." Chagrined and humiliated, 
the Pope resorted to more violent acts, even sentenced to 
death this man who dared to think for himself . Savona- 
rola received the news while on his knees praying, but he 
was not to be severed from his devotions by a sentence of 
death. He was cast into a dungeon, and every day led 
forth into the streets, where he was scourged and reviled 
like the Man of Galilee. Though his body was quivering 
with anguish, his courage never faltered. Coals of fire 
were applied to his bare feet, yet his spirit never flinched. 
For the sake of truth — a great conviction — he bled and 
died in martyrdom. 

But conviction, without purpose, is almost useless. 
Purpose is the vitalizing power that lifts man above the 
brute, and makes him a partner of the Divine, a co-worker 
with the Almighty. A man without purpose is like a 
locomotive without steam. But a man with a purpose 



350 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

is all-powerful. A friend, observing the habitual thought- 
fulness of Milton, asked him the subject of his meditation. 
The young man, who from childhood had cherished the 
purpose to write the epic of creation, replied: "God help 
me, of immortality." Diligently he held himself aloof from 
the evils of the age; and after blindness, old age, and ad- 
versity had crept upon him, this master of passion burst 
forth in the immortal " Paradise Lost." William Lloyd 
Garrison was incarcerated for libelling slavery. But im- 
prisonment only inflamed the more his unflinching spirit. 
From that moment he spoke with greater vehemence, 
denounced the system of human bondage as infamous, 
and hurled stinging maledictions at the foes of freedom 
until his words were made effective and his purpose realized 
in the emancipation of the slave. 

Yet, without a thorough preparation, conviction and 
purpose may, for the time, be thwarted. Behold an un- 
couth, stuttering lad, delivering his maiden address amid 
the jeers and hisses of an Athenian mob. Thoughts of 
failure flash across his youthful mind; but with an in- 
domitable spirit, he determines that he will be heard. 
For weary months he hides himself from the gaze of the 
world; toils and struggles in the travail of study and 
meditation. Now standing on yonder beach, he thunders 
to the white-capped breakers, until at last his eloquence 
is heard above the roar of the sea. Twenty centuries have 
come and gone, but the name Demosthenes still stands as 
a symbol of matchless oratory. In like manner, careful 
attention to the details of naval technique for thirty-five 
long years won Dewey success in the supreme hour. 
The battle of Manila was not won in a single day. The 
difference between success and failure is preparation. By 
thorough preparation men of destiny "have made them- 
selves creators of circumstances; others have become the 
creatures of circumstances." 



MEN OF DESTINY 351 

Patience is that poise of soul and force of will that holds 
in abeyance the power of action until the psychological 
moment arrives. Lincoln's defence of unpopular measures 
and his inflexible opposition to the extension of slavery 
while in Congress, prepared the way for his political 
retirement. What mattered that to him ? The waiting 
years were his servants, ministering unto his great soul 
all needful sustenance, strengthening and girding him for 
the work he was called to do. The awful burden of that 
epoch ushered in by the Civil War, weighed upon his 
spirit far beyond our power to comprehend, but with 
Christ-like patience he waited for the hour that brought 
the preservation of the union. 

From the dawn of creation's morning these character- 
istics, working through men of destiny, have wrought 
out the world's civilization. Incarnated in the individual, 
they have decided battles, changed the map of nations, 
created epochs, and produced world-wide reforms. Blaz- 
ing the path through the forests of ignorance and super- 
stition, sending into mediaeval darkness the light of liberty, 
these incarnate virtues have given to the world the price- 
less heritage of modern civilization. 

As in the past so in the present, civilization must be 
nourished and protected by men of destiny. The growth 
of civilization, however, shows a gradual evolution toward 
democracy, which has given to the world an increasing 
leadership, — multiplied men of destiny. Democracy 
means that every man has within himself the possibili- 
ties of a master mind; that within him slumber reason 
and intelligence. Empire says we want more men; 
democracy, more man. Democracy believes that there 
is nothing great in this world but man, and that every 
man is a potential man of destiny. Americans believe 
that the salvation of humanity rests upon the general 
diffusion of democratic principles. Cherishing this con- 



352 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

viction with a jealous pride, they look forward to the final 
triumph of these principles, to a greater civilization. 

But we should not forget that the realization of this 
dream depends upon fidelity to the ideals of democracy in- 
terpreted by the wisdom of our forefathers. Democracy 
having reared a mighty nation, is now lamenting the dan- 
gers that threaten. Swept on by the unparalleled prog- 
ress of a century, the nation has forgotten that the in- 
dividual is a man of destiny. The doctrine of " equal 
rights to all and special privileges to none," has been merci- 
lessly trampled on by an unrestrained commercialism 
that menaces society and threatens the life of individual 
enterprise. The reign of twentieth-century industrial 
vikings is prostituting the good and establishing the 
corrupt. Democracy is attacked by both capital and 
labor. Trusts levy tribute upon the producer; railroads, 
by discrimination and rebate, make and unmake towns 
and cities, and defy the law of the land. The trade union, 
intoxicated by victory, seeks to gain its ends through mob 
violence and murder. In the political arena, the evil 
forces are even more subtle and dangerous. The dema- 
gogue buys a vote, and purchases the manhood of his vic- 
tim. The legislator sells the liberty of the people, that 
the corporations may continue their plunder and spolia- 
tion. Addicks controls Delaware; the Pennsylvania 
railroad owns New Jersey; Tammany rules New York 
City; Guggenheim buys a seat in the United States Senate, 
while the " third house" moulds public opinion, writes 
legislative enactments, and bulldozes the National Con- 
gress. 

These subtle forces, working greed and selfishness, threat- 
ening the fundamentals of democracy, are the Goliaths 
against whose invasions the age is calling for men who 
believe in the sovereignty of the people. Appeal after 
appeal is being raised for men of purpose and character, 



MEN OF DESTINY 353 

active soldiers of the common good. Shall we play the 
part of master minds and, going forth as one man, per- 
petuate democracy and create epochs in civilization ? or 
" shall we acquire the means of effectual resistence by lying 
supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom 
of hope until our enemies shall have bound us hand and 
foot?" 

Permanent reform cannot be achieved through surface 
remedies. In a democracy civilization cannot reach a 
plane higher than the average plane of the people. Social 
progress depends upon the harmonious growth of all the 
elements of the organism. Soldiers in the battle for democ- 
racy must be servants of an ideal acquired through moral 
vision and mastered by preparation. The undisciplined 
mind is overwhelmed by the awfulness of social wrong. 
True preparation signifies accuracy of perception, sense of 
value. Better conditions can be realized only as the pa- 
tient faith of every man sees beyond the evils of the hour 
the elements that, properly directed, will bring reform. 

Already may be seen the signs of promise prophetic of 
a better day. The spirit of reform, inspiring the common 
man with a nobler vision of the possibilities offered by 
democracy, is raising leaders who embody the intelligence 
and conscience of the people. These leaders are throwing 
themselves into the battle for humanity with an enthusi. 
asm supported by the patience of an unwavering faith. 
The efforts of patriotism and duty are as effective to-day 
as in '76. Charles Evans Hughes enforces the law against 
the corruption of insurance corporations and the race- 
track promoter. Francis J. Heney, disclosing the alliance 
between the trust magnate and the political boss, puts to 
flight the corrupt forces of a great commonwealth. Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, bringing to the solution of the intricate 
problems of industrialism, the preparation of thorough 
scholarship, and the purposeful conviction of a career 

2a 



354 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

dedicated to the services of the state, enforces the law with 
unswerving impartiality, establishes a new standard of 
public service, and guarantees a " square deal" to every 
citizen in the land. 

If the fundamental principle of democracy that every 
man is a potential hian of destiny is to be passed down 
through the ages, the republic must have multiplied men 
like Folk, and Hanly, and Roosevelt. The republic must 
have men of conviction, purpose, preparation, and patience, 
men with ideals born of moral vision, men of action who 
dare to fight for the realization of ideal, men who are 
willing to pay the price of preparation, men who can 
work and wait. Then, and not till then, will the promise 
of democracy be fulfilled and every man become a man of 
destiny. 



THE COLLEGE GRADUATE'S DEBT TO SOCIETY 
AND THE STATE 

Leslie Ceaven 

STANFORD UNIVERSITY 

(This address was delivered at the laying of the Memorial Class Plate in 
the inner quadrangle of Stanford University, during the Commence- 
ment Exercises of 1909.) 

To-day when every fleeing hour draws us nearer to the 
time we are to leave the university for the last time, we 
come here to dedicate to our Alma Mater the memorial 
plate. It is a custom as old as Stanford itself, a custom 
hallowed by the previous generations of Stanford men, 
who have always come here, as we have, on the eve of grad- 
uation, and with reverence in their hearts for all that Stan- 
ford means, have forged their links in this chain of bronze 
whose short beginning we see here, but which eventually 
is to surround the Quad. There has always been, fellow- 
classmates, a deeper significance attached to this custom 
than the mere laying of a plate in the cement of these 
cloistered arcades to remind those who are to come that 
the class of '09 eventually succeeded in dodging the 
scholarship committee and graduated. Four years ago 
we gathered here from the earth's four corners. Now we 
have run the course of our college lives. We have lived 
the Stanford life. We have become infused with the 
ideals of the founders and of our president, who is as much 
a founder of Stanford as they. We are blessed with the 
stamp of Stanford upon us. We realize the blessing of 
that stamp, the value of what Stanford has given us, and 

355 



356 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

yet as a class we have done nothing to show our recogni- 
tion. That is the significance of this plate. It is a mute 
token of our appreciation. Realizing what we owe to 
Stanford and in deep reverence to all that Stanford means 
to us, we dedicate it here, a token of that love which the 
true Stanford man has for Stanford, in recognition of our 
debt, with the pledge that the duty that this debt involves 
shall be performed, a pledge to live up to the Stanford 
ideals, to vitalize our lives with the spirit of Stanford just 
as the Stanford spirit vitalizes Stanford life, and by that 
means and by service to society and the state to discharge 
our debt to Stanford, representative of all that is best in 
society and the state. 

When I say that we must pay the debt, I mean it in 
almost the literal sense, for as college men we must realize 
that education is not free. We hear a great deal these 
days about free libraries, free colleges, education free to 
all. Emerson's doctrine of compensation is true. There 
is nothing in the world given away, and a price must always 
be paid. Throughout nature there is a system of checks 
and balances. "A perfect equity adjusts its balance in 
all parts of life." You men who accept from society an 
education owe a debt to society for that education. So- 
ciety demands the payment of that debt. You cannot 
shirk. Education means a burden of responsibility. 
Acceptance means obligation, and the debt must be paid. 
The world taunting us as feeble, scholarly recluses calls 
for the payment, and the great question is, are we debtors 
not deaf to the call ? 

In this democracy of ours, this government of the people, 
we hear the call from every phase of its great life. Ours 
is a democratic government of public opinion. No other 
form offers to the college man so glorious an opportunity. 
The people as a mass are not made to rule themselves. 
There has always been, and there always will be until 



THE COLLEGE GRADUATE'S DEBT 357 

evolution goes a great way, a ruling class, a superior class, 
to direct the movements of the mass. In the mon- 
archy you see that class in the aristocracy of birth; in 
our republic you see it in the aristocracy of brains. This 
class directs the thought and sways the decision of the 
great mass of the people. We say that the people rule. 
As a matter of fact the great mass simply ratify the rule, 
■ — the thought, the ideas, of the smaller class. The mass 
are much like a ball on a level floor. A little pressure on 
one side starts it in almost any direction. The aristocrats 
of brains apply that pressure. They are or should be the 
leaders of their communities. By their editorials they 
mould public sentiment. They make public opinion from 
pulpit and platform. In the class room they mould the 
ideas of the younger generations. They direct the poli- 
cies of the state; they direct the legislation; in politics 
they get up party platforms with nicely worded and 
meaningless planks, and the people vote them through, 
voting very much like sheep, Republicans because their 
fathers happened to be or because the Republicans happen 
to be in power, and they have not the courage to be on the 
losing side. 

Thus I say that the voice of the people is neither 
the voice of God, as the French republicanists believed, 
nor is it the voice of the people. It is the voice of 
the leaders of the people ; and in our democratic gov- 
ernment it is imperative that those leaders shall be the 
right kind of men, because they rule the voice that rules. 
The great cause of our present-day corruption is not that 
the American people are corrupt. It is that the wrong 
people direct that voice, that the college men of true ideals 
are not leading their communities, that the college man 
forgets the ideals of his Alma Mater, that he leaves the 
Harvard spirit and the Yale spirit and the Stanford spirit 
behind him on the campus, that he forgets the obligation 



358 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

which he assumed to society and to the state when he 
accepted an education, — that the debt is not paid. 

So to-day, remembering what we owe to Stanford and 
society, remembering the obligation under which we 
rest as we pass out from the campus gates, remembering 
the cry and the call for men of the true ideals and of the 
stamina which college education breeds, with a pledge 
that in our communities in whatever line of work we find 
ourselves we will not forget the debt, we dedicate to 
Stanford the class plate in recognition of our obligation. 



STUDENT ACTIVITIES IN UNDERGRADUATE 

LIFE 

John C. Brodsky 

NEW YOKK UNIVERSITY 

(A valedictory oration delivered at the Commencement Exercises of New 
York University, 1909) 

The educational forces playing upon our youth in 
American colleges are worthy of the deepest interest and 
keenest attention. One hundred and fifty thousand young 
men are ignoring the proffers of the business world and 
devoting themselves for four years to studies and pursuits 
which they hope to make the basis of greater individual 
efficiency and civic worth. 

The test of a college education is : does it turn out men 
of character ? Does it found in the young man the ele- 
ments . of perfect manhood ? To meet this test the 
American college has set up two fields of effort. First and 
fundamentally, is academic work. The other field is 
student activities; and these include collegiate activities, 
such as student government, publication, music, dra- 
matics society, intercollegiate activity, such as ath- 
letics, chess, and debating. 

Complaint is now voiced that in the mind and applica- 
tion of youth student activities usurp the dominant place. 
Educators demand their restriction, yes, even their aboli- 
tion. The resolution to restore studies to their own is 
wise and just. But is it well to cast aside student activi- 
ties ? The problem is not the survival of the curriculum 

359 



360 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

and extinction of student activities, but rather how to 
secure from college men the rational distribution of their 
energies between the curriculum and the student activi- 
ties. 

But what value have student activities as a factor of 
education ? This — that in them lie forces which mould 
character. To begin with, student activities give the 
undergraduate practical training. Studies fill him with 
facts, principles, theories, but give nothing on which to 
apply them. In carrying on student activities, say, 
managing a team, playing a game, writing for a paper, 
the student learns to apply what he is being taught. He 
does it himself, and thereby develops his judgment and 
discrimination in a way entirely wanting in the curriculum. 

The student activities develop responsibility, that 
rarest of undergraduate senses. We know of students 
who do not hesitate to appear before a professor unpre- 
pared or to cut his lectures. Yet the athlete dares not 
cut practice, the debater knows every side of his question, 
the editor gets his copy to the printer on time. In gen- 
eral, the curriculum does not emphasize strongly enough 
the need for responsibility. Student activities demon- 
strate the need of meeting obligations, and thus develop 
the undergraduate sense of responsibility. 

In the third place, student activities profitably fill up 
recreation hours. Thirty years ago a large part of spare 
time went to horse-play, even fighting ; in later years sur- 
plus energy of students was dissipated in hazing. But 
hazing, too, is passing out of our colleges, and the extra 
energy of students is occupying itself in the more profitable 
student activities. Student activities are bringing about 
appreciation of the value of time, are preventing much 
idleness; and that means fewer slips of the moral nature 
and ultimately a better and stronger man. 

Again, student activities are valuable, for they teach 



STUDENT ACTIVITIES IN UNDERGRADUATE LIFE 361 

cooperation — even unselfishness and self-sacrifice. In 
every team, publication, fraternity, in every activity, 
the individual is subordinated to the whole. The man 
is valuable as part of a construction. He is taught by 
experiment the principle of modern progress that coopera- 
tion is wise. He is taught that unselfishness and self- 
sacrifice are noble. Student activities hold up before the 
young man unselfishness and self-sacrifice, and lead him 
to put into practice those ideals, — ideals so often swamped 
in the vortex of the business world. Whatever in the edu- 
cation of the youth will add these elements to his manhood 
should not be just tolerated, rather encouraged. 

The curriculum emphasizes the intellectual; student 
activities add development of the moral side of the young 
man. With the tendency of student activities to make 
youth practical, to develop his sense of responsibility, to 
teach him to appreciate the profitable use of time, to 
inculcate the ideals of unselfishness and self-sacrifice, who 
will deny that student activities tend to make the young 
man more efficient, to build in him a larger character, 
ultimately to make him of greater worth to the state ? 

Activities are a valuable factor in the college. Com- 
plaint that they are encroaching upon the curriculum 
means that a feature of college life, at bottom good, is 
simply being overdone. The remedy, then, should not 
suppress student activities. But first, distribute ration- 
ally the time and energy of undergraduates between the 
student activities and the curriculum; and second, have 
each undergraduate take part in some activity. 

How will restriction of a man's time and energy toward 
student activities prevent those activities from dominat- 
ing college life ? In the first place, when the time and 
energy which a man may bestow upon athletics, or publi- 
cations, or music is limited, neglect of studies from that 
cause is lessened. 



362 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

Or again, the idea of duty to Alma Mater is overem- 
phasized by many students. The credit which the student 
will do his university in later years as a result of hard 
study is now inconspicuous to him in the perspective of the 
future. Therefore he does what he can to raise her name 
in intercollegiate activities now. The spirit is unselfish, 
but when carried too far detracts from academic work. 
Restriction in activities will set bounds to this duty to 
Alma Mater and will take away the student's fear that he 
has not done enough for his college. 

The third advantage in restriction is wider distribution 
of offices and places, resulting in opportunities for more 
men. Now, an efficient or popular man holds two or 
even more offices. Let him hold one, or at most two, 
and to meet the new conditions more men will be forced 
into activities, or for want of men the activities will them- 
selves be reduced. 

So much, restriction of effort toward student activities 
will do. The second part of the plan to rationalize student 
activities is to bring all undergraduates into some activity. 
Only about half now engage in them. Nevertheless 
there is every reason to shake these students from their 
sloth, and ultimately their participation will make them 
better and more efficient men. Further, if there is a duty 
to Alma Mater, to fight for her on the gridiron, in the 
regatta, or in debate, — and what young heart here to-day, 
or what old heart that still pulses with the memory of 
college days, will deny that there is this duty ? — then it 
should be shared by every man. The one capable of 
making Phi Beta Kappa should stand not only at the head 
of the honor roll, but also at the head of some studied 
activity. Then is his duty done. 

Thus restriction of the overzealous and introduction of 
the non-participants into college activities is our remedy 
— a remedy to be applied by the students themselves. 



STUDENT ACTIVITIES IN UNDERGRADUATE LIFE 363 

I say by the students themselves, for it is the tendency 
throughout our educational institutions to grant to the 
student the invaluable practice of self-government. And 
what is more, student legislation can as effectively as 
faculty ruling restrict the number of activities with which 
a man may identify himself. To bring about the par- 
ticipation of students now indifferent, student public 
opinion must be relied upon. To compel a man in the 
exercise of his tastes is neither in accord with the spirit of 
modern legislation nor conducive to college spirit. There 
need be little fear but that when the energies of some are 
limited, the desire for success in student activities will 
bring sufficient pressure to bear upon the non-participants 
to force them into the field of student activities. 

Our question, friends, concerns the adjustment of 
values in college life. Academic effort is primary in 
college education; student activities are secondary, but 
yet a valuable educational force, in that they add to a 
man's intellectual growth those moral forces which will 
better fit him to meet the problems of life. By limiting 
the enthusiasm of some students toward activities and 
instilling the lacking enthusiasm into others, the energy 
of the young men of our colleges will be distributed 
between the student activities and the curriculum. The 
academic work will get that recognition which it must 
ever have, namely, of being the dominant feature of edu- 
cation; and student activities will take their proper place 
as a most valuable, yes, inspiring adjunct in moulding 
well-rounded and manly character. 

But one word remains — priceless is the value of student 
activities as associations. What feelings of affection go 
out to those with whom we fought in this game, with 
whom we worked for this or a hundred other things. In 
later years the aging brow will light up with memories of 
days spent here upon the campus, with collegemates and 



364 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

classmates, of years spent in the tender care of Alma 
Mater. 

Happy have been our days with you, Alma Mater; 
happy will be our thoughts of you; happy be our service 
for you. Mother ours, farewell. 



THE GERMAN-AMERICAN 
Richard E. Wenzel 

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA 

(Awarded first place in the contest of the Western League of Oratory, 

1909) 

This nation is not the achievement of one people. 
However proud the descendant of Puritan or Cavalier 
may be, the true American is not the offspring of one race. 
Wherever the woodsman felled the forest, or the pioneer 
hunter made his home; wherever the trapper followed 
the trail, or the planter prodded the virgin soil, — there 
Anglo-Saxon energy, Celtic imagination, German thor- 
oughness, reliability, and faithfulness had their share in 
keeping this land ever sacred to liberty and the rights of 
mankind. And thus to-day, wherever the flag of this great 
nation flies, there Hollander and Huguenot, Swede and 
Creole, English and German, may rightfully unite and 
sing, "My country, 'tis of thee," and claim the name 
" American." 

And those of whom I wish to speak to-night are not the 
least of all the elements that have gone into this crucible 
of the nations to make the typical American. The Ger- 
man has played his part in every phase of our develop- 
ment — in war and in peace ; in commerce, industry, and 
politics. He has drawn to the full from the riches of this 
land, but he has given, and given wisely, in return, for he 
has given himself, in loyal service to the building of man- 
hood and the state. He was up and about this continent 
in those early days of which the histories tell us, — when 

365 



366 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

it was but an endless forest; when your forefathers went 
to church with a prayer book in one hand and a musket 
in the other ; when in the blood sweat of their brows men 
did eat their bread — and the honest historian, who does 
not yield to prejudice, but gives to truth a proper hearing, 
makes mention of the fact that he was a sober German 
Protestant, as quiet, frugal, industrious, and pious as the 
first Pilgrims at Plymouth. 

His mission was as worthy as the Englishman's. The 
same causes which brought the English Pilgrim brought 
the German Protestant. These were economic rather 
than religious. It is true both sought religious freedom, 
but the earliest English settlers were usually groups of 
unemployed who were sent out by the London merchant 
and the west country gentleman, sent out to set up trad- 
ing communities in the newly discovered world. The 
small farmer had fallen upon evil days. The expansion 
of English commerce and the consequent adventures in 
trade were altering men's lives, occupations, and ambi- 
tions. The city merchant turned his lands into pastures 
for sheep. The older landowner enclosed the Commons 
to give him room for his flocks and herds. "Your sheep 
that were wont to be so meek and tame," said Sir 
Thomas More, "are now become so great devour ers and 
so wild that they eat up and swallow down the very men 
themselves. They consume, devour, and destroy whole 
fields, houses, and cities." 

Thus it was with the Germans. Economic rather than 
religious were the causes that called them to the west. 
The advent of the Reformation and the Renaissance had 
inspired the common masses with the hope of better con- 
ditions; but just as they were prepared to enjoy the fruits 
which the plenteous harvests of peace and prosperity alone 
could bring, war's destructive discord once more rang 
through the land, and the middle of the seventeenth cen- 



THE GERMAN-AMERICAN 367 

tury left them crushed and bleeding in a country torn in 
the name of religion. Flourishing cities were reduced 
to rifled ruins. Commerce was broken. Trades and 
industries were swept out of existence. Capital, that great 
wage fund, was no longer adequate to meet the needs of 
the peasant and the mechanic. The Fatherland was no 
longer a desirable home for the toiler ; and as emigration 
from it was far preferable to starvation in it, the more 
rugged and ambitious Teutons turned their faces towards 
the new Canaan, a land literally flowing with milk and 
honey. America, the land of Opportunity, became their 



Differing in race, speech, and often in religion from 
those who already possessed the more desirable spots along 
the Atlantic coast, they pushed out into the wilderness, 
following the lines of least resistance, along the valleys 
of the Mohawk, the Shenandoah, and the Cumberland, 
from Schenectady to Stone Arabia and to German Flats, 
from Easton to Endless Mountain and to the Piedmont. 
Year after year beheld their patient toil. Year after 
year the virgin wilds presented a more fruitful field for 
the development of those stern, strong, virtuous qualities 
with which Tacitus had found them fenced, about in the 
fastnesses of their own Black Forest. Clinging to the 
customs of their Fatherland, they naturally seemed 
somewhat clannish to the larger groups of their English 
neighbors, likewise intolerant of alien ideas; but the fire 
of freedom lay smouldering in their hearts. Why, freedom 
of thought had been the life element of these people for 
centuries. Since the days of Luther the Germans had 
started nearly every movement towards greater freedom 
and independence. Yes, even before the time when the 
legions of Vaus were broken by the rush of Hermann's 
wild warriors, as they swarmed out of the dark woodlands 
of the Rhine and the Danube, they had been inspired by 



368 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

the love of liberty. Centuries before Lexington they had 
been thinking the thoughts which now transformed the 
pious New England Puritan and the easy-going Virginia 
Cavalier. 

Scarcely had the war message of the seventies been 
hurled over the Hudson before these plain but patriotic 
pioneers, true to their Teutonic spirit, rose to the preserva- 
tion of that liberty of which a despotic ministry was more 
and more depriving them. There are writers, it is true, 
who have accepted the traditional misconception of these 
people, and who declare them to have been indifferent to 
the colonial cause; but there are also writers of promi- 
nence who question whether there could have been a united 
colonial rebellion or any United States of America but 
for the patriotism of the Germans in the colonies. What- 
ever the justice of the latter 's claim may be, is not for me 
to say. The truths of history afford the best encomium, 
and facts like these appeal to every candid mind. 

A London paper of June, 1770, speaks in no uncertain 
tones of their willingness to sacrifice their lives and prop- 
erty for the preservation of colonial liberty. The 20th 
of May, 1775, found the Germans of Mecklenburg County, 
North Carolina, declaring themselves a free and inde- 
pendent people, recognizing only the authority of God and 
the Continental Congress ; and the granting of the elective 
franchise to the Germans of Pennsylvania in June of the 
following year transformed its Tory majority into a 
majority for the friends of freedom, and the Declaration 
of Independence was a direct result. 

And when war was actually begun, it was Baron 
Steuben, a German, who created a disciplined and well- 
drilled army. It was a company of Pennsylvania Ger- 
mans that first arrived to the aid of Boston. It was a 
company of Virginia Germans that first arrived from the 
south. It was a German regiment that was the last to 



THE GERMAN-AMERICAN 369 

leave Long Island in that famous " Thermopylae of the 
Revolution." It was the Germans who equipped the 
military hospitals, smelted the ore, cast the balls and 
cannon, and manufactured most of the rifles for the Con- 
tinental army. It was the well-filled barns of the Germans 
that furnished a large portion of the food supplies for the 
ill-clad forces at Valley Forge. And finally, it was a divi- 
sion of Germans that planted the new-born starry flag in 
triumph over the British redoubts at Yorktown. 

When again in '61 the summons went forth from the 
nation's chief, the watchfires along the Delaware, the Ohio, 
and the Mississippi were once more kindled. Once more 
they offered their lives upon the altar of freedom. Two 
hundred and fifty thousand of them, born under another 
flag, rendered to the flag of their adopted land their last 
most loyal service, sacrificing their lives, their all, that 
that adopted land might live; and that the historian might 
write upon the dark and bloody pages of the book of war- 
fare that henceforth no man should have a property right 
in even a black man's body, that liberty was in truth the 
inalienable right of every man. 

You well remember how the first faint rumblings of the 
oncoming storm found Missouri in the hands of Southern 
adherents. Family and political ties naturally bound her 
to the South. Governor Jackson declared Lincoln's requi- 
sition as illegal and inhuman; and with fifty thousand 
state militia under him, a legislature working in harmony 
with him, and three million dollars of state funds at his 
disposal he was prepared to carry out his threat that 
Missouri should never furnish soldiers to fight her sister 
states. But again the Germans had to be considered. 
The timely and determined stand of their four regiments 
upset the well-laid plans of the rebels, the tide of popular 
feeling was stayed by the irresistible influence of right, and 
before the close of that consuming conflict Missouri, the 
2b 



370 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

Compromise state of 1820, had contributed more soldiers 
to the Union cause than Massachusetts, the " Rock of 
anti-slavery." 

War, however, is not their only field of service. They 
are above all a people of peace. " Nothing can be more 
honorable and blessed," said one of the greatest of their 
number, "than any effort to create and nourish a public 
spirit abhorring the resort to war, a sentiment inspiring a 
statesmanship bent upon devoting the keenness of its eye 
to the discovery, not of the things that irritate and divide, 
but of the things that conciliate and unite." The lapse 
of time forbids that I should dwell upon the author of 
those words, — 

" Suffice it that he never brought his conscience to the public mart, 
But lived himself the truth he taught, white-souled, clean- 
handed, pure of heart, 
His statecraft was the Golden Rule, his right of vote a sacred 

trust. 
Clear, over threat and ridicule, all heard his challenge, 'Is it 
just?'" 

— Karl Schurz, the soldier, the statesman, the prophet, 
the greatest congressional orator of his time, the man who 
taught the American voter that it is possible to be a par- 
taker in self-government and yet not be a partisan, who 
taught the managing politician that the man who wants 
nothing is the most embarrassing problem, and who taught 
us all that the still small voice of right and duty must and 
may be heeded above the din of political outcry or the noise 
of a nation in battle. 

And in this time of ceaseless conflict, when the eternal 
rush for money seems to put a stamp of selfishness upon 
our every action, when we ourselves see our parties in the 
hands of bosses, our economic world controlled by trusts, 
and the whole country under the spell of the yellow journal, 
when the foreigner characterizes us as a nation of men 



THE GERMAN-AMERICAN 371 

with vulgar tastes and brutal manners, saying that we 
care only for education, art, justice, or public welfare as 
they mean money to us, with which we in turn buy courts, 
legislation, and government, we turn again to the record of 
the German-American, and find that he has devoted him- 
self to guiding the plough, the noble instrument of peace, 
with the same patriotism that he wielded the sword, the 
righteous weapon of war — reminding us of the fact that 
the common weal of this new empire of the West demands 
the application of every noble endeavor, the thinking 
mind, and the active, toiling arm in all things and at all 
times, in order that its purpose in the great world plan 
may one day stand accomplished. 

Thus in endless deeds of praise runs the story of these 
German pioneers, a story not garnered from the writings 
of [their race-proud countrymen, but gleaned from the 
reluctant testimony of their English contemporaries. 
Men's memories are clear, and remember well that our 
charter of freedom was first written in the Mayflower; 
but they grow dim in trying to recall those days when the 
New Englander sailed the seas engaged in a traffic de- 
structive of the very principles there set forth. Boston 
is ever heralded as the birthplace of American liberty, 
but it is seldom mentioned as the place where it was well- 
nigh throttled by a mob. "All men are created equal," 
said the Puritan, but his conscience did not forbid slavery 
until the price of human flesh had fallen to sixpence a 
pound in the open market. For the German as well as 
for the Saxon the past is secure. This also is the story of 
a people whose claim to recognition is based upon the 
record of its achievements. 

But the message I would leave with you to-night is not 
that the true American is a German, but that the German 
is a true American. We are an English-speaking people, 
but we are not a nation of Englishmen. We are Ameri- 



372 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

cans. I am an American. You are Americans. I have 
told you the story of Americans, for I have told you the 
story of a people who have given themselves in loyal, 
patriotic service to the building of a nobler American 
manhood and a grander American nation. 

Go back, if you will, to the earliest days of our history, 
and you find them blazing a path for the nation's progress. 
You find them first among those who penetrated the wil- 
derness, standing the brunt of the fight with the Indians 
on the Mohawk, the Shenandoah, the Ohio, and the lower 
Mississippi. The bones of their sons, falling in the struggle 
for home, independence, and the equal rights of men, lie 
mingled with the sacred soil of every state, from Maine 
to Florida, from the Alleghanies to the Rockies. To them 
we are indebted for much of the prestige of our earlier 
civilization. To their sons we may safely intrust the 
future progress of the land. They have been the organ- 
izers of our armies, the heroes in our wars, the planners 
and builders of our great bridges. Their inventions are 
numbered by the thousands and have added millions to the 
ranks of trade. Their music fills our homes, their litera- 
ture our libraries, their paintings grace the rotunda of the 
nation's capitol ; and as if in recognition of their patriotic 
service to the land of their adoption — a fitting tribute to 
a faithful people, and a memorial and incentive to the 
millions yet unborn — the emblem of their strength, the 
great black eagle, stands emblazoned on our nation's seal. 



THE TRUE GREATNESS OF THE TWENTIETH 
CENTURY 

William Erdman 

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS 

(The following oration was prepared and delivered in connection with a 
course in oratorical composition at the University of Kansas, 1909.) 

In their discourse upon the greatness of nations and of 
the world, writers and speakers invariably depict a struc- 
ture made strong by material and political achievements, 
and made beautiful by spiritual and intellectual advance- 
ment. They would have us gaze upon a picture enhanced 
with human accomplishments and made perfect by divine 
blessings. They would conceal the things that detract 
from the world's greatness, ignore the misery-breeding 
conditions which sap the life-blood from a people's hap- 
piness. They would keep from our notice the unsolved 
problems, the unfinished tasks, and have us see the picture 
of the world's progress as a perfect one. They would 
have us look upon it with an eye sensitive only to the 
beautiful, the grand. But such discourses are narrow 
and misleading, such treatises prejudiced and deceptive. 

In picturing the world's greatness, let us treat it from 
the standpoint of the optimist. Let us employ the same 
tints that he would employ and place the lights and shades 
where he would place them. Then the picture finished, 
let us dash against it the slime of the pessimist, dim it 
with the cloud of discontent, rend it with the broils of 
nations ; and if after such treatment its colors are yet un- 
paled, its accents yet discernible, then its beauty will be 
more beautiful, and its greatness more great. 

373 



374 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

We have, by this time, not only crossed the threshold, 
but swung well into the new century. If we look forward, 
our view is lost in the cloud of possibility; if we glance 
backward, we are made dizzy by the sudden height we 
have attained. Some scientists hold that there is a 
gradual process of evolution in the progress of the human 
race, but surely in the last century we have cleared at one 
bound the evolution of ages. One hundred years ago, 
man travelled as they did in the time of Christ; eighteen 
hundred years had shown no improvement. To-day the 
lightning express and the ocean-liner speed away, scorning 
continents and disdaining oceans. Benjamin Franklin 
remarked, a short time before his death, that naught 
would please him more than would a return to earth a 
hundred years later to view the changes time would have 
wrought in the interval. But even Franklin, with his 
vast experience, his wide knowledge of the past, his ma- 
ture judgment, and his vivid imagination, could not have 
conceived changes so numerous and striking as those 
which characterized the hundred years succeeding his 
death. 

During this period the prolific genius of man has cast a 
spell over the entire world, touched with the double wand 
of electricity and steam all the pursuits and industries of 
the race, endowing them with new life, and causing them 
to assume a thousand undreamed-of forms. It has 
pierced the mountains and spanned the canons beyond, 
making straight and easy the highways of commerce 
and civilization. It has laid bands of steel across the 
redman's hunting-ground and through the Zulu jungle. 
It has spun across continents a web of commerce, start- 
ing wheels whirling and forges glowing to turn out the 
necessities of life in generous plenty. It has touched 
the soil, and populous cities have sprung up. It has 
quarried the earth, and lifted the glittering store to the 



TRUE GREATNESS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 375 

feet of a worthy civilization. It has hitched the roaring 
cataract, and made it turn ponderous wheels hundreds of 
miles away. Inventions are following rapidly one upon 
another, until to-day the wireless message is flashed three 
thousand miles across the waters, the horseless carriage is 
no longer a toy, and the airship no longer a folly. 

But not merely in the material world has there been 
advancement. A century ago a weak sisterhood of states 
was struggling to establish the first republic. From that 
sisterhood the twentieth century boasts a union of forty-six 
magnificent commonwealths, embracing half a continent, 
and shaping the destinies of ninety million souls. Across 
the Atlantic, people of one blood have, become one nation : 
from a score of pygmy German principalities has been 
born a united Fatherland. After decades of struggle 
between church and state there has been brought back a 
combined Italy. There are now, roused from the sleep 
of ages, a progressive Japan and an awakened China. 
We have entered upon a century of the people. The idea 
of the divine right of kings has been buried forever. Rep- 
resentative government, once an experiment, has shown 
to the world that man can be trusted, and that self-govern- 
ment is possible. 

Side by side with the material and political achieve- 
ments of the past century, we find intellectual advance- 
ment, perhaps the source of all, yet keeping step with 
every phase of modern progress, until to-day rural school- 
houses dot the land in almost every clime. Countless 
colleges and universities mark the threshold of higher 
learning. Normal schools for the training of teachers, 
colleges for the professions, and industrial schools for the 
crafts, constitute the sources of future citizenship and 
manhood. 

And yet is this greatness unmodified? Have we in re- 
counting the achievements of the past century sounded 



376 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

the whole scale of truth ? Have we reached the highest 
pinnacle of success ? or are there still cankerous conditions 
which challenge the greatness of the new age? Perhaps all 
will agree that the past has done everything that can be 
expected, but are there not still heights before us that 
tower far above those of past achievements ? is there not 
work undone ? are there not problems unsolved ? and is 
it not our duty to strive toward attaining the unaccom- 
plished possibilities, to complete the unfinished and to 
right the wrongs as far as possible in order that man might 
more fully enjoy the things that God has placed at his 
command ? 

This century comes burdened with problems as great as 
those which harassed civilization in the nineteenth, for 
even that age of unparalleled progress did not bequeath all 
that is necessary for a world's happiness. It revealed the 
secret of producing wealth ; but on the twentieth devolves 
the problem of distributing it. All through the ages, from 
the earliest record of man to a few decades ago, the prob- 
lem of poverty was primarily that of production, but such 
a condition no longer exists. The factories are now turn- 
ing out the necessaries of life in such enormous quantities 
that the cry is that of over-production. There is an 
abundance to supply the needs of all, and yet the cry for 
bread by the starving millions is growing louder every day. 
While a part of the world's population revels in wealth 
and luxury, another part is starving. 

Some would have us believe that the cause of this con- 
dition is the trust — soulless, towering above the individ- 
ual like a colossus. It is true that the trust has secured 
a powerful grasp upon the commercial and political world, 
and that when at the beginning of this century there was 
effected the capitalization of nearly a billion dollars, 
having the financial support of nearly three times that 
amount, there was hardly a quiver in the body politic, 



TRUE GREATNESS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 377 

and no doubt this condition is widening the gulf between 
the rich and the poor; but in reflecting upon the deplorable 
condition of so large a class, let us not forget the suffering 
that is caused through idleness, debauchery, and above all 
intemperance. These still rank among the problems of 
the age. However, in this discourse I shall not endeavor 
to give solutions for these unsolved problems, for each of 
these would require a treatise in itself. I shall merely 
point out the existing evils to see in how far they challenge 
the world's greatness. 

Want of respect for law constitutes another hindrance 
to civilization. It actuates the anarchist in Europe and 
the mob in America. It has been said, and I believe 
with truth, that the present age has better and more 
efficient laws than any preceding age has possessed, but 
it is also true that there never has been such disregard for 
law as the present time shows. True, the man who steals 
a dollar frequently becomes the inmate of a prison, but 
he who steals a million dollars or a people's rights is too 
often crowned a hero. It is these conditions that cause 
people to lose faith in the purpose of law, and induce 
them to join the ranks of the anarchist or the mob and 
bring about the disgraceful results which stain the pages 
of recent political history. This lawlessness has wrecked 
kingdoms and republics, and, if ever the strength of this 
nation does fall, it will be when a maddened people thrust 
aside its judiciary. 

But the evils just mentioned appear comparatively 
small when we recall how during the past century the 
whole world has trembled beneath the most dreadful 
curse of civilization — war. It has sapped the life-blood 
from people's happiness. It has stalked from continent 
to continent and circumnavigated the whole world, leav- 
ing its trail of death and blood. Under the rage of this 
monster the noblest attempts of peoples have been crushed 



378 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

to earth. States in their bloom of life have had their 
fields ravaged, their cities razed to the earth, their homes 
destroyed, and all left in a state of ruin, in order to 
satisfy the greed of an enraged people, or to gratify 
the desires of an ambitious monarch. To-day the 
Christian world is exemplifying the teaching of its 
founder by having thirty million, one-half its able-bodied 
men, trained to wield the deadly weapon against their 
neighbors. Never before in the history of the world has 
the art of killing been cultivated on such a gigantic scale. 
Every Christian nation is watching with a suspicious eye 
the movements of its neighbor states, and stands pre- 
pared to rush into a deadly conflict at a moment's notice, 
as if blood were the most noble prize for man to acquire. 

These problems, an aggregate of unsolved difficulties, 
denying in a way the world's greatness, comprise the un- 
finished work of the new age. They seem to be a mighty 
barrier between us and the heights that tower before us, 
but when we observe how commerce is surmounting ob- 
stacles, how social problems are holding the attention of 
all classes, and how arbitration and the international courts 
are receiving the respect of the nations, is it too optimistic 
to hope that by the close of the twentieth century the solu- 
tion of these problems will be recorded in history ? Wars 
have already become so unpopular that the motive of the 
warring nation is questioned and often condemned by 
the critic world. A sense of justice is crying out against 
these evils. The humanitarianism of the nineteenth 
century, which reformed the prisons, abolished slavery, 
and gave birth to an incalculable amount of philanthropic 
effort, is moving forward with such tremendous force that 
all these, the momentous problems of the age, must give 
way before its onward march. If we but stand united, 
not over-confident, but with the hope of victory before us, 
a sense of justice to guide, an enthusiastic spirit to urge us 



TRUE GREATNESS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 379 

on to renewed efforts, and an undaunted courage to fight 
well the battles, we cannot fail to win the victory. The 
rays of hope are already piercing the clouds that have been 
darkening the future. With religion ridding itself from 
scores of mystic superstitions, with education and culture 
flourishing as they have never done before, with the modern 
spirit of investigation seeking unprejudiced for new truths 
in every field of social life, the result is inevitable, the bar- 
riers to progress must fall and the victory be complete. 
When we count the battles won, when we remember that 
we have more music, more beauty, more learning, more 
happiness, more seeking for truth, and more charity than 
ever before, we might well anticipate this victory before 
the close of the century. All these are but factors in has- 
tening the time when the war drum has ceased to throb, 
when there will be but one trust, when lawlessness will be 
outlawed, when justice will be enthroned, when one pa- 
triotism, the patriotism for humanity, shall swell every 
bosom, and all mankind be inspired to one united effort 
for the betterment of society. These efforts cannot fail 
to bring desired results, decrease human suffering and 
bestow an everlasting blessing upon humanity — and 
then we may say, twentieth-century greatness is truly 
great. 



CULTURE AND SERVICE 

Isaac Thomas 
princeton university 

(Awarded first place in the Contest for the Baird Prize in Oratory, 

1909) 

In these days college men must defend culture. The 
spirit of mercenary materialism, in spite of vigorous, hostile 
preaching, still runs rampant. The farmer's boy or mer- 
chant's son with a studious turn of mind, yearning vaguely 
to rise above his uncongenial surroundings, is urged to 
pursue a scientific, technical course of training, whereby 
he may gain more of this world's goods than is possible in 
the field of his favorite classics and humanities. No one 
may better combat this American over-emphasis of com- 
mercialism than the man who has been educated in a place 
like this, who reverences the ideals of his academic ances- 
tors, and loves his college for its partial aloofness from the 
main currents of active national life, its pervasive charm, 
and its rare spirit of sentiment, all linking him mysteri- 
ously to the great men of the past, yet pointing him to the 
problems of the future. 

It is our purpose, however, not to defend culture, but 
to define it, to point out its dangers, and to consider it 
as related to public service. Before most college men 
there stretch careers that will test their culture to see 
whether it is a cloistered virtue, or whether it can approve 
itself in the turmoil of life. Shall culture merely open 
before a man vistas of intellectual delight forever closed 
to others ? Does it tend to separate him from the rank 

380 



CULTURE AND SERVICE 381 

and file and teach him to despise his less fortunate fellows ? 
or does it render him more widely sympathetic and more 
useful ? 

First of all, the culture of books should be a perennial 
source of joy in quiet hours, a respite from the toil of days 
spent in the dust and heat of routine work, and a solace 
in the time of bitter need. Familiarity with the great 
poets and appreciation of the masterpieces of art and 
music are more than idle luxuries. The truly educated 
man does not close his books on leaving college, for he 
remembers visions that came to him in his study of the 
seers and sages, and recalls moments when he felt 

" like some watcher of the skies 
When a new planet swims into his ken." 

These memories he takes with him as permanent pos- 
sessions that are beyond the harm of Fortune's turns 
or man's ingratitude. And to the commanding heights 
whence he gained these views he returns again and again, 
held in pleasant thraldom and bound by ties " lighter 
than air and stronger than iron." Brutus, in his tent at 
close of day, entangled in the meshes of Roman politics, 
vexed with quarrels, and broken in spirit by Portia's 
death, seeks a favorite book to beguile the dead watches 
of the night, until slumber lays its leaden mace upon him. 
Such in the main was Matthew Arnold's culture, though 
he reacts it in a mould of militant intellectualism and 
sought to propagate it. There is need of the leaven of such 
a culture, but in it there is also a dangerous tendency to 
put its disciples out of sympathy with democracy and the 
common people. Brutus failed when he closed the book 
and planned the battle. Matthew Arnold, great as he was 
in gazing steadfastly upon his own theories of culture, 
became blind to the hidden poetry and pathos, the comedy 
and tragedy in the monotonous lives of the great dull 



382 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

majority not numbered among "the remnant." Even 
in literary criticism his judgment became narrowed so that 
he could not appreciate in its full splendor the merry Eng- 
land that lives in Chaucer's keen, humorous realism, nor 
the simple beauty of peasant life immortalized in the 
songs of Burns. While culture with Matthew Arnold was 
not a mere sestheticism, there was in his culture an 
intellectual chill which congealed the streams of human 
love that flow from great men's hearts. 

Arnold's master, Goethe, was the apostle of a broader, 
better-rounded culture. His self-training of more than 
half a century allowed for the harmonious growth of 
religious instincts, will, emotions, and intellect. He 
breathed into the Greek ideal of culture the rugged power 
and unresting energy of his German nature. Self-culture 
was his business in life. In following the gleam he was 
led through the realms of literature and science, then away 
from his desk where often the moon, shining down over 
the ancient towers of Frankfort at midnight, found him 
in his intellectual ferment and spiritual unrest, out over 
the wild mountains to commune with the Earth-spirit 
in crashing storms or in halcyon days to loiter in rural 
quiet along the paths of romantic love. He yielded him- 
self to the spell of dim cathedrals where the organs pealed 
forth solemn music and the last enchantments of the mys- 
tic Middle Ages lingered like sweet incense. Then he was 
drawn into the whirl of public life as statesman and ad- 
viser at the court of Weimar, where he knew something 
of the joys and cares of active service. His culture was 
a pyramid, a lifetime went to its systematic building, and 
into it were fitted the choicest blocks of Parian marble. 
His story is the monumental record of a great soul, and 
in so far as a gigantic human figure of harmonious beauty 
may become a beacon to humanity to show "what man 
can make of man," Goethe's life of culture contains the 
elements of service to mankind. 



CULTURE AND SERVICE 383 

No one doubts that Arnold and Goethe were highly 
cultured men, nor that their preeminent records are a 
boon to later generations. But they do not represent 
the union of a great culture with a democratic spirit of 
usefulness. Is such a combination possible in one per- 
sonality, or are culture and service conflicting ideals ? 
Let us turn to one more historic figure, Alfred the Great, 
the Saxon king. 

Measured by our standards, Alfred's actual culture 
and learning are pathetically meagre. Fragments of 
philosophy and the ethics of the early Church Fathers, 
Anglo-Saxon poetry, and a little Latin — these were the 
subjects of his study. His life was so hard that few could 
have endured it. Some cruel malady pursued him till 
death ; his people were scattered, and his kingdom harried 
by the ruthless Danes; care and defeat haunted him like 
evil spirits. But through it all, from the days when he 
pondered with boyish delight over quaintly illuminated 
manuscripts to the few years of sunset calm at the end of 
his life, he found hours for quiet study, for writing out his 
simple poetic musings and profound sermons, or for casting 
into English old idylls of Greek and Roman mythology. 
It was ever his prayer that he might "have tranquillity 
enough" to finish his translation of " useful books" into 
his own tongue. He had an unbounded love of learning 
and an infinite genius for culture. 

In one respect, however, Alfred's culture differs funda- 
mentally from Arnold's and Goethe's. We have seen 
how Arnold in his culture was narrow, aristocratic, over- 
intellectual, indifferent to the problems of common men. 
Alfred knew and loved his humblest peasants. We have 
seen how Goethe in all his splendid, many-sided culture 
was self-centred, and made self-development the goal of 
his ambitions. The central purpose of Alfred's culture 
was to make himself a more efficient servant of his people. 



384 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

It was for his people that he studied, wrote, summoned 
scholars from beyond the sea, and defended the seats of 
learning in the battle's front where "byrnies gleamed and 
arrows sang their grewsome death-songs." 

In Alfred, then, we find the union of culture and service, 
our apparently conflicting ideals. In him we find service 
tempered and rendered sane and efficient by culture, 
and culture crowned and glorified by a life of practical 
usefulness. In him we find the " sweetness and light" 
of Arnold, the "wide and luminous view" of Goethe, 
serenity of spirit and breadth of judgment, and a capacity 
for self-spending service nobler than all the mere culture 
of the finest scholars. Freeman calls him "the most per- 
fect character in history." This union of culture and ser- 
vice made us the heirs of Anglo-Saxon learning, made him 
the beacon light of all the ages. 



THE CALL OF THE MINISTRY 
J. M. Howard 

YALE UNIVERSITY 

(Awarded first prize in the Senior Oratorical Contest at Yale University, 

1909) 

If I were a preacher to-night, I should take a text. And 
my text would be that verse where John says, "I write 
unto you, young men, because ye are strong." The call 
of the Christian ministry to the undergraduate in Yale 
College — what is it ? 

One of the purposes of the founders of Yale was to 
secure able men for the ministry. For a long time a large 
proportion of the graduates became clergymen, but in 
our own generation the number has become a mere hand- 
ful. And this situation is typical of that in most American 
colleges. There is not time to enumerate the various 
explanations that have been offered, but the fact remains 
that we are confronted with a scarcity of able men in the 
ministry. 

Now why is it important that more able men go into 
this particular profession ? Are we not continually hear- 
ing of the crying need in law, in politics, in business, in 
medicine, of men consecrated to the service of the people ? 
This is an age of education; is it not imperative that our 
teachers be men of the highest stamp ? It is — impera- 
tive. But in these days of social unrest, of material prog- 
ress, of the tremendous development of this country, 
the ministry is imperative, and, more than any other 
2 c 385 



386 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

calling, it offers peculiar opportunities for the man who 
would make his life count. 

First of all, look at the country districts. How much 
we hear now about the degeneracy of rural life in America. 
The old days of rustic simplicity are gone. Railroads, 
telephones, labor-saving farm machinery — all such 
things have wrought a change in the character of country 
life, and in too many cases the Church has failed to keep 
abreast of the times and has lost its hold upon the people. 
Doubtless every one here to-night can think of communi- 
ties within his own ken that are on a low moral plane, and 
that are raising up mean, sordid, small men instead of the 
honest and generous-hearted citizens we look to the coun- 
try districts to produce. And has the country church, 
then, passed its period of usefulness ? Listen to the testi- 
mony of the commission appointed by the President to 
investigate rural conditions. "We miss the heart of the 
problem," their report says, "if we neglect to foster per- 
sonal character and neighborhood righteousness. The 
best way to preserve ideals for private conduct and pub- 
lic life is to build up the institutions of religion. The 
Church has great power of leadership. The whole people 
should understand that it is vitally important to 
stand behind the rural church and help it become a 
great power in developing concrete country life ideals." 
Mark you, the heart of the problem: personal character, 
neighborhood righteousness, ideals for private conduct and 
public life. And the solution, according to these govern- 
ment investigators, is — the Church. 

Another great opportunity lies in the more recently 
settled parts of the land. When the original colonies 
were planted here, people came largely for religious reasons. 
There is no doubt that much of the proud heritage we 
claim from our ancestral communities is due to the hold 
the worship of God had on the people. In_ America to-day, 



THE CALL OF THE MINISTRY 387 

what has led us to people the plains and mountain regions 
of the "new West" ? In practically every instance it has 
been opportunity for material advancement. And now, 
while our new territories and states are still near enough 
to the pioneer days to be plastic, it is of transcendent im- 
portance, as President Roosevelt has said, that the high- 
est Christian ideals shall dominate and determine their 
civilization. But can't a man live a clean, true life 
in these new communities without the aid of the 
Church ? Perhaps he can, but he cannot keep the com- 
munity clean and true without an organization of the 
forces of right, and that is what the Church stands for. 
Many of us here at Yale will go out West when we gradu- 
ate because we shall find there better opportunities for 
getting a comfortable living. Suppose you and I go to 
give our lives to the leadership of the institution which 
goes to the heart of the problem by developing " personal 
character, neighborhood righteousness, ideals for private 
conduct and public life"? 

How about the cities ? Here live thirty-three per cent 
of our entire population. Here is centred most of our 
wealth. Hither are flocking the Italians, Poles, Jews, 
Chinese, bringing their strange languages, their customs, 
their prejudices, their ignorance, and crowding our fac- 
tories and tenements and sweat-shops. From whom are 
they going to learn our customs ? What power is going 
to break down their prejudices and bring light to the dark- 
ness of their ignorance ? These people have been uprooted 
from their old associations and are thus peculiarly open 
to both good and evil. 

I asked an eminent investigator of American social 
conditions if he thought the Church had a definite work 
to do among the poor in our cities, especially among the 
immigrants. For answer he turned to his desk and handed 
me a leaflet. It was a catechism, published by the 



388 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

Bohemian society. And here is a sample of what is to-day 
being taught to over twelve thousand Bohemian and 
anarchist children in the Middle West: — 

"What is God? God is a word used to designate an 
imaginary being. 

" Has man an immortal soul ? Man has no soul ; it 
is only an imagination. 

"Is adultery a sin? No, because intercourse with the 
opposite sex is natural to every person. 

"Does Christianity stand for right? No; it stands 
for and supports all that is wrong. 

" Should we pray ? If we are given to prayer, we gradu- 
ally become imbeciles." 

Shall such an organization as this propagate its doc- 
trines to pervert our people's minds and destroy all that 
we hold sacred, and shall the Church sit passive ? Are 
the demons of sin and doubt and despair to be allowed 
free rein, and is Christianity with its message of faith 
and hope and love not to exert itself ? 

But not only in the slums does the Church's field lie. 
You can't open a newspaper without being made aware 
of the corruption, the misused wealth, the misspent lives, 
that are common among our so-called upper classes. 
Personal character and neighborhood righteousness need 
fostering on Fifth Avenue as much as in the country store 
or in Oklahoma. 

Of course the Church is bitterly criticised. There is 
no time to take up individual accusations, but this much 
may be said: Practically every adverse criticism reduces 
to one fundamental idea, namely, that the Church has 
neglected its social responsibility. Now to a considerable 
extent that is true. But a great many churches realize 
it. Look at the wideawake churches to-day — you will 
not find them sitting idle. They are going into the poor 
districts and showing the people how to live. They are 



THE CALL OF THE MINISTRY 389 

working to mitigate the bitterness of class feeling. They 
are getting hold of the children, rich and poor, and train- 
ing them up in the ways of knowledge and truth and right 
living. They are maintaining institutions where young 
men and women from among the immigrants themselves 
are being trained to teach their people how to live. 

But there is no danger that the Church will go too far 
and usurp functions which belong rightly to the State ? 
We are to " render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." 
Yes, but what can Caesar do ? Well, he can legislate. 
That is, he can oppose a check to the existing forces of 
evil. He can punish detected corruption; he can make 
wife-beating a criminal offence; he can compel tenement- 
house owners to put in sanitary plumbing; he can close 
the saloons, if you like. But can Caesar make men honest ? 
Can he make husbands less brutal ? A bath-tub in a tene- 
ment-house makes an excellent coal-bin — can your gov- 
ernment official persuade the tenants to bathe in it ? 
Will closing the saloons do away with men's desire to 
drink ? Effective laws are useful, and indeed they are 
indispensable, but no set of regulations imposed from with- 
out is going to reform society. That is where the socialist 
makes his mistake. He believes that the existing order 
is wrong, and that the way to right it is to change existing 
institutions. He is mistaken. The evils of society are 
the natural result of the evil in men's hearts. Man does 
wrong because his motives are wrong, and nothing will 
make him do right until right motives are planted in him. 

It is well enough to talk about being guided by reason 
and the folly of giving way to emotion; but in the last 
analysis the motive power of the will lies not in the brain 
but in the heart. And nothing on earth can move man's 
heart to permanent good except religion. Professor 
Emery has said that the ministry offers greater opportu- 
nities for improving economic conditions than any other 



390 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

profession because of this very fact, that religion alone 
supplies the motive for right living to the individual. 
Without the motive there will be no change in the life, 
and without changed lives there can be no better society. 
Christianity offers the ultimate solution of every problem 
confronting the American people. 

What a visionary idea! To reach every member of 
society — what a stupendous, what an impossible, task ! 
But we forget; all things are possible — with God; and 
the man without vision has no place in the Christian 
ministry. 

Do you think it is an easy profession? There are 
doubtless many easy pastorates and many lazy pastors. 
But to become a good minister requires as long and as 
careful and as exacting a preparation as to become a 
good lawyer. And once in the profession, the pay is 
small, the work is hard and often petty and discouraging. 
It is a difficult profession. 

But to bring men into personal touch with the God 
that Christ revealed — what more glorious profession ! 
To bring strength to the weak, relief to the distressed, 
comfort to the afflicted, yes, and health to the sick — oh, 
what infinite possibilities are open to the minister! To 
bring fun to children who would otherwise be deprived 
of it, to bring joy and hope into homes that have known 
only depression and despair, to show people 

" How good is man's life, the mere living, how fit to employ 
All the heart and the soul and the senses forever in joy." 

Difficult, did I say? Do you remember what Paul 
wrote to the Corinthians ? He wanted to stay at Ephesus 
because, he said, "a great door, and effectual, is open unto 
me, and there are many adversaries. " There is the call 
to the ministry! The door is open; the adversaries are 
many ! To the Yale man who, like Paul, can take that 



THE CALL OF THE MINISTRY 391 

opportunity and face those difficulties, who can see the 
vision of future possibility, and who believes in a victorious 
God who can bring that vision to pass — to him come 
the words of that other great apostle: "I write unto you, 
young men, because ye are strong.' ' 



"MERCY THAT CONDEMNS" 
Robert William Prescott 

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON 

(Awarded first place in an Intercollegiate Contest with seven other 
colleges, 1908) 

The perpetuity of any nation depends upon the sta- 
bility of its government, and the integrity of any govern- 
ment rests upon the security of its foundation principles 
and their rigid application. The fundamental principle 
of government is justice, and the operation of justice 
demands law. Anything which perverts justice, which 
undermines law, is sooner or later destructive. Tyranny 
perverts justice and so is destructive. Pity and kindness 
themselves, when they stay justice, are devastation to 
the very cause they would nurture. 

The man living far from his fellows is a law unto him- 
self. Give him companions, and it becomes necessary to 
restrain his actions, because the satisfaction of all his im- 
pulses would infringe upon the rights of his companions. 
And so we have customs and laws, and because the welfare 
of the whole depends upon their strict observance, they 
are held sacred. Yet it is a recognized principle that law 
in itself must not be made a fetish; in so far, only, as it 
enables all men to have their rights should we hold it 
inviolable. 

But Americans of to-day are passing from this concep- 
tion to the one which holds that laws may be broken if 
they interfere with personal desires and ambition, that laws 
may be modified in order to save humiliation and suffering 

392 



"MERCY THAT CONDEMNS" 393 

to the unfortunate criminal and his unhappy family. 
Laws are over-ridden almost with impunity. The man 
of finance buys United States senators; the great trust 
defies the government; the rebater, the bank defaulter, 
the petty criminal, the murderer, each successfully plies 
his trade. It must be admitted that a great deal of the 
fault for this condition is due to imperfections in the laws 
themselves, and to a system in our courts whereby tech- 
nicalities are given precedence over the merits of the case. 
But even when there is no direct obstacle to justice, the 
American juryman is prone to let a foolish sentimentality 
break the iron of his will and the inviolability of his oath. 
He waits to sympathize with the accused, secures for him 
pardon finally, and so undermines the moral forces of the 
state. 

Human life is fast becoming a cheap and worthless 
thing. Too often can a murderer successfully plead the 
unwritten law or insanity, appealing to the sympathies of 
the public heart. In Oregon last year there were fifty- 
six homicides, and from seventeen cases already tried for 
murder but three convictions. Indeed human life has 
become a trifle and law a puerile thing. Contempt for 
law and immunity from punishment loosen the bonds of 
unity between man and man, between man and the state, 
so that gradually men lose faith in their government. 

In the light of sanity and reason, would we not better 
face about from a ruinous policy of inaction and indul- 
gence toward law-breakers, and seriously try to set things 
right while we are yet able to do so, before the blind fury 
and passion of a class strife lets itself loose upon the nation, 
and the spirit of the mob takes hold ? The spirit of the 
mob is already abroad. What true American fails to view 
with grief and horror the revelations in the Steunenberg 
trial? That such things can be in this land of ours is 
almost beyond belief. William Haywood was acquitted 



394 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

of the charges brought against him, justly acquitted, let 
us hope. Yet in the eyes of law-abiding citizens he stands 
convicted of treason to the principles of his country, not 
by evidence brought out in the trial, but by his own words 
when he said that the reason for his acquittal was because 
the Unions, when united, are invincible. Invincible! 
Where is the boasted justice of America ? Is this the land 
of Liberty when the leaders of the sons of toil teach the 
spirit of violence, when they would have might to be the 
right, and fling with sacrilegious lips the name of justice 
in the dust ? Such a spirit identifies itself with that which 
thrice in the span of forty years has rent the pages of our 
history and stamped upon its leaves in characters of blood 
the names of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley. Here at our 
very doors the red-handed are at work. Harvey Brown, 
an officer of the commonwealth of Oregon, who never 
flinched from his devotion to the right, with a stainless 
life, in the full bloom of a strong and useful manhood, on 
the threshold of his own home is hurled into eternity. 
And in Colorado the eyes of men are still wet with the 
tears that flow in memory of the good Father Leo. The 
blow not only cut off from life him with the beautiful 
character, but it reached out to a world of men, leaving 
them stricken and dumb, shaken with an unnamable 
emotion. Have we become so imbued with a false idea 
of what justice and personal liberty are that we permit 
without check, without rebuke, the grim spectre of anarchy 
boldly stalking over our borders to disseminate amongst 
us its teachings of violence, death, and destruction ? What 
are we coming to, when through indifference, inaction, 
negligence, through lack of a controlling public opinion, 
we militate against the security of our Presidents, against 
the safety of any man who stands for law and order, even 
against the sanctity of our firesides and our altars so that 
they are desecrated by the bloody hand of the lawless ? 



"MERCY THAT CONDEMNS" 395 

Integrity of the nation requires that we have common 
laws and universal administration of those laws. In- 
tegrity of character requires that a man demand of him- 
self and his neighbor uncompromising, unflinching justice. 
Is there, then, in the development of character, or in the 
life of a nation, no room, no place, for the administration 
of mercy ? A thousand times, yes, for true mercy; but 
for mercy untempered by justice, never. "The quality 
of mercy is not strained. ... It is twice blessed: it 
blesseth him that gives and him that takes." And there 
is something wrong with the man who has not this melting 
sympathy, this forbearing compassion in his heart. It is 
a gift from heaven that droppeth as the gentle rain, re- 
viving the spirit crushed and beaten down in the harsh 
struggle of life. The heart of man has recorded in the 
institutions that govern him a higher law than blind jus- 
tice, a law of equity and mercy. 

But we have forgotten the meaning of that word mercy. 
Too often our so-called mercy sets the guilty free, regard- 
less of national welfare. Because the guilty man was 
previously a respected member in our midst, we hesitate 
to punish him, to dishonor him, to bring shame to his 
family, and so we seek extenuating circumstances. But 
in a larger sense, is this extenuation merciful ? Merciful 
to whom ? True mercy sternly punishes as often as it 
sets at liberty. The most tender mercy of the mother 
is that which inflicts just punishment upon the child. 
Counterfeit mercy knows neither the welfare of the sub- 
ject nor the good of the state. It is sentimental, politic, 
and condemns, — thrice condemns: condemns the giver 
in that he loses his power to discriminate between right 
and wrong; condemns the receiver by confirming him in 
his contempt for law; condemns society by contributing 
to the general disregard for law, by making it a light thing 
to violate the law. Though all the forces of my soul. 



396 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

crying out against the sin and blackness of man, impelled 
me to slay my neighbor, could I demand at the hands of 
my countrymen my life? Rather should not that life 
be given to my country, given in the light of a holy sacri- 
fice to the larger need of the nation? Justice must have 
her course that a nation may live. "The very mercy of 
the law cries out most audible." 

The ever growing need of our country is a broad-minded, 
deep-thinking patriotism. She needs the services of sons 
and daughters who look below the surface and farther 
than the needs of the hour, who recognize as a foe to per- 
manent government the palliation of wrong, the indis- 
criminate and blind mitigation, that overlooks the right, 
forgets the needs of the nation, and clothes the wrong- 
doer with a sentimental destructive pity. Our eyes are 
closed to the portent of this evil because it is cloaked in the 
hypocritical garment of a false virtue. But it is upon us, 
as a vampire in the night, drinking the life-blood of the 
nation, perverting justice, undermining law, destroying 
national unity. It is not enough that a President and a 
few brave followers should enforce the laws. Alone they 
cannot fight the fight. What will it avail if the great 
sentiment of the American people is not back of it all, 
working deep and earnestly toward the very root of the 
evil? The men first to lay their lives on the altar of their 
country to protect her flag from insult, here too, could 
they only realize the danger, would respond. So again 
let go out that old-time call of Liberty and Union. Hear- 
ing, let us see, and seeing, meet the foe. We cannot 
evade, we cannot deny. We dare not extenuate, we dare 
not palliate, at the cost of national existence. When we 
perish from the earth, it will be from causes within. " Yet 
the will is free; strong is the soul, and wise, and beautiful. 
The seeds of godlike power are in us still." We need 
fear no foreign foe so long as we hold fast to the principles 



"MERCY THAT CONDEMNS" 397 

that were in the hearts of our fathers when they founded 
this republic, the principles by which our institutions 
were conceived in purity, our standards of right and wrong 
made stainless and high, and our laws held inviolable. 
Lest we forget, let us as of old "go to the limpid fountain 
of unadulterated patriotism, and performing a solemn 
lustration, return divested of all sordid, selfish, and sinister 
impurities," and most of all return with eyes clear to see 
the right, and will strengthened to stand for that right- 
eousness that exalteth a nation, so that in reality this 
nation may not perish, but on through the ages live to 
perform its heaven-appointed functions for mankind. 



THE REIGN OF THE TECHNICALITY 

Aakon White Pleasants 

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS 

(Awarded second place in the Contest for the Skinner Prize in Oratory, 

1909) 

One of the gravest dangers that threaten the stability 
of our institutions and the perpetuity of our liberty is the 
increased lawless spirit which is sweeping the country, — 
the growing tendency to deal out summary justice, and 
to utterly disregard the established methods of settling 
the wrongs of society. The gravity of this situation must 
be obvious to every observant man. The manifold 
mob outrages and acrimonious race riots vividly illustrate 
the outward manifestations of this inward discontent. 
The safety of every man, woman, and child in this broad 
land is imperilled. 

What causes this alarming and deplorable condition of 
affairs ? Can it be attributed to a deterioration of Ameri- 
can manhood ? Are we retrograding in our ideals and 
standards of morality and justice? Have we forsaken 
the blessed heritage bequeathed to us, and disregarded 
the teachings of our illustrious forefathers, whose patriot- 
ism and intense devotion to law and order caused a civili- 
zation to be carved out of a virgin wilderness ? Are we 
in a transitory period ? Are the sophistries of the an- 
archists being received and assimilated as the future creed 
of our political religion ? 

To each of these questions, I answer in the negative. 
The cause lies not there. The American citizen of to-day 



THE REIGN OF THE TECHNICALITY 399 

is the American citizen of yesterday. The same cardinal 
virtues, patriotism and loyalty to principle and duty, that 
inspired the acts of the minute-man, that characterized 
the deliberations of the constitutional convention, which 
reached its culmination in the establishment and perfec- 
tion of a masterly form of government, is the same spirit 
that dominates the twentieth-century American. The 
cause lies not in the shortcomings of the individual, but 
in our palpably defective system of criminal jurisprudence. 
There may be found the explanation of this perilous situa- 
tion, — the interminable delays that mark the progress 
of a trial, the tendency to sacrifice justice on the altar of 
technicality. 

Truly, in our temples of justice, this arrogant and im- 
perious monarch rules with a despotic hand, blocking the 
ends of justice, and furnishing the inspiration for the reign 
of lawlessness with its increasing gravity and alarming 
possibilities. 

No system devised by man is perfect. The fallibility 
of human nature is exemplified in every work of man. 
But our system of criminal jurisprudence has not attained 
that close proximity to perfection that the progressive 
spirit of the century should accomplish. In this unprece- 
dented era of enlightenment and advancement in all 
branches of thought, it seems strange that the American 
people, ever jealous of their established institutions, 
should tolerate such an obviously inadequate system. 

The veteran Georgia lawyer, Colonel Reuben Arnold, 
declares in a recent address before the Bar Associations 
that seventy-three per cent of all cases are decided on 
technicalities. Pray reflect upon that statement. There 
is deep significance in it. It means that nearly three- 
fourths of all law cases are not decided on their merits. 
Can such a system be meeting the requirements of justice ? 
Statistics show that during the last fifteen years the num- 



400 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

ber of annual homicides has increased from three thousand 
to about ten thousand, and that at the present time only 
one murderer in seventy-four suffers capital punishment. 
Can such a system be subserving the ends of justice ? 

In past ages, the accused man was too cruelly treated. 
He was inhumanly tortured to make him confess. To 
escape the frightful suffering many innocent persons con- 
victed themselves of crime. The sun of human liberty 
was in eclipse, and the impenetrable darkness of despotism 
enveloped the land. Men were thrown into prisons on 
trivial pretences. None of the priceless jewels of our 
system (and far be it from my purpose to contend that our 
system is wholly devoid of praise and commendation), 
and none of the present safeguards of liberty, such as the 
writ of habeas corpus and trial by jury, characterized their 
administration of justice. In swinging away from this 
barbarous treatment of the prisoner, the pendulum of 
human tenderness swung too far the other way. To-day 
every step in a criminal trial is hedged about with tech- 
nicalities, many of which mean nothing to the layman, 
and all of which tend to provide loopholes of escape for 
the protection of criminals, rather than to protect society 
against murderers. 

In this connection, it is passing strange that with a 
system of jurisprudence founded on that of England, and 
with a procedure essentially the same, the administration 
of justice in America should be attended by so much 
greater delay and uncertainty. Justice Brown, recently 
retired from the United States Supreme Court, declares 
that our criminal courts are all wrong, and that so far as 
the administration of criminal justice is concerned, we are 
generations behind England. Only a few months past, 
he is reported as saying: "One who has watched day by 
day the practical administration of justice in an English 
court cannot but be struck by the celerity, accuracy, and 



THE REIGN OF THE TECHNICALITY 401 

disregard of mere technicalities with which business is 
transacted. One is irresistibly impelled to ask himself 
why it is that, with the reputation of Americans for the 
doing of everything, from the building of bridges over the 
Nile, or battleships for Russia or Japan ... a court in 
conservative old England will dispose of a half dozen 
jury cases in the time that would be required here in 
despatching one." 

The cause is not far to seek. It lies in the prompt in- 
terposition of the court to prevent delay. The trial is 
conducted by men trained for that special purpose, whose 
interest is to expedite it, and not to prolong it. No time 
is wasted in immaterial matters. Mere oratory is at a 
discount, and new trials are rarely granted. 

In our practice, the state is not permitted to ask the 
accused any questions at all, unless the prisoner volun- 
tarily goes to the witness-box. Isn't this obviously non- 
sensical ? Why should any innocent man object to going 
to the witness-box, and why should any guilty man be 
allowed to escape because he alone can establish his guilt ? 
In most states the defendant can make statements and say 
anything he pleases relevant to the case, but the state 
cannot ask him a single question. As a result of this un- 
just discrimination, guilty parties are acquitted because 
the state cannot prove some particular fact essential to 
its case. 

One of the most signal triumphs of this dictatorial tech- 
nicality occurred recently in the notorious grafting case 
in the city of San Francisco. The Mayor, Schmitz, and 
the Boss, Abe Rueff, compelled certain saloon and res- 
taurant keepers to pay them large sums of money in order 
to be allowed to conduct their establishments under the 
customary licenses. A revelation of these facts produced 
a sensation in the entire nation. Upon trial in the lower 
court, a jury returned a verdict of guilty and sentenced 

2d 



402 REPRESENTATIVE COLLEGE ORATIONS 

them to a long term of imprisonment and compelled them 
to pay a heavy fine. All the country rejoiced with Cali- 
fornia in the great moral victory. But, alas, it was only 
temporary in its duration. Upon appeal to the higher 
court, that tribunal held that there was no crime com- 
mitted. With astounding effrontery, the court said that, 
although Schmitz and Rueff did threaten these saloon and 
restaurant keepers, and did thereby force money from 
them, "the indictment is insufficient because it does not 
show that the specific injury was an unlawful injury." 
Think of it! The court acknowledges the sufficiency of 
the facts to establish the guilt of the accused, but, tena- 
ciously adhering to a technical rule, reverses the case be- 
cause the indictment failed to charge an unlawful injury. 
It would seem that some of our courts, eager to screen 
miscreants, have evolved a new species of injury, namely, 
a lawful injury. No wonder our established forms of 
administering justice have lost the reverence and respect 
formerly accorded them. This California case is by no 
means unprecedented; the reports of the various courts 
are furnishing similar examples. 

What we need is a more liberalized code, in order to 
destroy the tendency of technical rules to defeat justice. 
At present a courthouse combat is too much like a tourna- 
ment, where the lawyers come and tilt for their clients, 
while the crowd waits there to acclaim the victor, and the 
judge presides to award the prize. In no instance should 
a case be reversed, notwithstanding the violation of some 
technical rule, unless it clearly appears that the interests 
of the parties have been prejudiced. 

Of course, an attempt to decide cases absolutely on 
their merits, without rules to govern, would be imprac- 
ticable. No uniformity of decisions could exist, and a 
chaotic condition would result. But it is practicable and 
absolutely necessary that there be a liberalization and 



THE REIGN OF THE TECHNICALITY 403 

simplification of the codes of procedure. The lost pres- 
tige must be regained and the lawlessness checked. We 
want " justice tempered with mercy/' to be sure, but not 
mercy tempered with justice. 



INDEX TO COLLEGES REPRESENTED 



Amherst College, 74. 
Arizona, University of, 78. 
Arkansas, University of, 136. 

Bates College, 150. 
Baylor University, 220. 
Bowdoin College, 5. 

California, University of Southern, 

319. 
Carleton College, 83. 
Cincinnati, University of, 313. 
Colgate University, 208. 
Colorado, University of, 96. 
Columbia University, 159. 
Cornell University, 69. 

Dakota Wesleyan University, 103. 
Dartmouth College, 1. 
Denison University, 118. 
De Pauw University, 62. 
Drake University, 190. 

Florida, University of, 123. 

George Washington University, 131. 

Hamilton College, 144. 
Harvard University, 10. 

Illinois, University of, 35. 
Indiana University, 298. 
Iowa State College, 213. 
Iowa, University of, 236. 

Kansas, University of, 373. 
Knox College, 14. 

Lehigh University, 242. 

Michigan, University of, 42. 
Missouri, University of, 109. 



Monmouth College, 247. 
Montana, University of, 203. 

New York University, 359. 
North Carolina, University of, 254. 
North Dakota, University of, 365. 
Northwestern University, 49. 
Notre Dame, University of, 261. 

Oberlin College, 182. 

Ohio State University, 269. 

Ohio University, 276. 

Ohio Wesleyan University, 281. 

Oregon, University of, 392. 

Pennsylvania, University of, 305. 
Princeton University, 380. 

Randolph-Macon College, 173. 
Rutgers College, 309. 

Sewanee (University of the South), 

56. 
South Carolina, University of, 28, 

291. 
South, University of the (Sewanee), 

56. 
Southwestern University, 325. 
Stanford University, 355. 
Syracuse University, 332. 

Texas, University of, 196, 398. 
Transylvania University, 338. 

Union College, 154. 

Upper Iowa University, 90. 

Vanderbilt University, 228. 
Virginia, University of, 166. 

Washington, University of, 348. 
Wisconsin, University of, 21. 

Yale University, 385. 
405 



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